The Girl and The Bill An American Story of Mystery, Romance and Adventure by Bannister MerwinMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This one relies heavily on coincidence.
"There is a lady, sweet and kind,
Was never face so pleased my mind,
I did but see her passing by
And yet I love her till I die."
The protagonist of this book doesn't quote that old song, but he might as well. It's one of those scenarios where he's never seriously been interested in any woman before, but he sees one in the street by chance and is instantly smitten. Then he meets her again, also by chance, and helps her change a tyre. And then she turns up at his apartment in pursuit of the "bill" of the title, a $5 note which has directions written on it for retrieving something important to her, which has come into his possession by... complete random chance. He then engages in multiple adventures on her behalf, even though she won't tell him her name yet (or what the papers are that she's trying to get back), because he's fallen in love with her and trusts her implicitly. Besides, the other people trying to get the McGuffin are nasty foreigners, and she's of his race, nationality, and class, so obviously he sides with her, quite apart from the instalove.
The adventure bits are fine. It's just that the hero, despite being a lawyer by profession, is a lot braver than he is smart, and a good deal of the plot that isn't driven by coincidence is driven by him being an idiot, though he does have his effective moments too.
We never do learn the name of the girl. He addresses her as Girl.
I picked it up because of an original publisher's advertisement in the back of another old book I read from Project Gutenberg. That book ( Cynthia's Chauffeur ) was better than this one.
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