The Brown Mask
By Percy James Brebner
The road would seem to be a pastime with him rather than a life he loved. For me, the night never comes, and I do not long to be in the saddle, and I do not crave the excitement, even if there is no spoil worth the trouble of taking. This man is different. He is only abroad when the quarry is specific.
True, success has been his, but for all that, the fear of Tyburn may spoil his rest at night, and when he gets there, we may find that the brown mask conceals a coward after all.” “Had you seen him that night as I did, you would not have said so,” was the answer. “I like speech with a man before I judge his merits,” said Gentleman Jack, rising from his chair and flicking some dust from his sleeve.
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Percy James Brebner
Percy James Brebner (March 24, 1864 – July 31, 1922) was a British writer of adventure and detective fiction.
Biography.
He was the eldest son of James Brebner, manager of the National Provincial Bank of England, Piccadilly. He was educated at King’s College School and worked in the Share & Loan Department of the Stock Exchange before he began his writing career. He published his early novels under the name Christian Lys. One of Brebner’s most famous creations was Professor Christopher Quarles, a master detective of the Sherlock Holmes variety. Quarles is an elderly professor of philosophy with a keen deductive mind. He is aided by Murray Wigan, a young policeman who narrates the adventures akin to Dr. Watson from the Holmes stories.
Brebner also wrote several historical novels. His Lost World title, The Fortress of Yadasara, also known as The Knight of the Silver Star, was described as “a highly romantic lost-race adventure in the mode of the contemporary historical novel.” It was serialized in Italian and Spanish pulp adventure journals in the early 20th century and listed in 333: A Bibliography of the Science-Fantasy Novel, a collection of the best efforts in Science Fiction up to and including 1950.
Additionally, he wrote for various British and American newspapers and magazines, including the Weekly Tale Teller and The Sunday Star, and publications like The Ilfracombe Chronicle War Supplement during the First World War.
Percy James Brebner
