The Backward Boy

Never do favors. Hasn’t Denton learned this by now? But love will make chumps of us all, and for love of Janet Striker, he is making inquiries on behalf of the extremely tedious Mrs. Snokes. Her husband, she declares, is innocent of the hideous charges made against him. The newspapers, however, think differently: They have dubbed him the Barnsbury Butcher. Worse yet, for love of an old mate Denton has taken on a chore for the man’s brattish son, entangled in a shameful liaison with a woman of beauty, spirit, and the ability to wreck his tidy little upper-class future. Hell’s bells, forget about the do no favors strategy; the best path may be do not love. But try telling that to Denton…