Twenty-four hours of pure disaster, for young reporter John Winthrop! First he is invited to the opera with lovely Phyllis, who utterly enchants him -- then she turns down his offer of marriage . . . in essence ruining what she, at least, had seen as a sturdy, pleasant friendship. Then he is invited to hear the will of his wealthy uncle -- and all John is left is a paltry pittance. The bitter old man obviously nursed his grudge against John's parents to his dying day! "You might as well use it to light your cigar with," says the lawyer, handing him the check. The next day at the newspaper, however, holds a startling surprise for young Winthrop . . .

Author Biography

Harold MacGrath (1871 - 1932) was a bestselling American novelist, short story writer and screenwriter. Also known occasionally as Harold McGrath, he was born in Syracuse, New York. As a young man, he worked as a reporter and columnist for the Syracuse Herald newspaper until the late 1890s when he published his first novel, a romance titled Arms and the Woman. According to the New York Times, his next book, The Puppet Crown, was the No.7 bestselling book in the United States for all of 1901. MacGrath subsequently wrote novels for the mass market about love, adventure, mystery, spies and the like at an average rate of more than one a year. He would have three more of his books that were among the top ten bestselling books of the year. At the same time, he published a number of short stories for major American magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal and Red Book magazine. Several of MacGrath's novels were serialized in these magazines and contributing to them was something he would continue to do until his death in 1932.