Excerpt from The Lure of the Flame I had just begun a new story for one of our prominent newspapers, when a well-known doctor was announced. When I say that he is well known I do not mean that he is an idol of Mayfair or a much sought-after consultant, though I have no doubt that he could have been either, for he has brains, appearance and sufficient means of his own. But for some reason or other he has elected to devote himself entirely to those who require the services of the Healer, in its twofold sense - the Outcasts of Society, the gutter dwellers of this vast City. "I know you're keen on the White Slave Traffic," he began. "I was," I corrected. "But now the Bill is passed my keenness has lost its point. Even the papers have dropped the subject which they no doubt consider stale." "Mark Danger," he reproved, shaking his fine head, "with your name and your intelligence I expected better things of you! Both the papers and the public are wrong. They go hammer and tongs at a thing, encourage the grossest exaggeration regarding it and work it to death until one step towards their goal is made, like the passing of this Bill - and then they drop it like a useless bauble. In other words, they forsake the fight. Having gained one Victory they think the battle won. But is it? Those they have been denouncing know quite well that it is not. That, if they lie low for a time, their chance will come again. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.