The Sixth Sense by Stephen McKenna (1915)

As is usual with this author, this novel makes the reader feel that they are in safe hands. McKenna is one of the links between Oscar Wilde and Michael Arlen in terms of literary history. He was applauded as Wilde's successor on the publication of his first novel in 1912, which was indeed laden with wit and tart aphoristic prose. The subsequent two have travelled on from that, into the post-Edwardian mindset, where manners are still important but not so mannerism. This third one deals with the return to England of Toby Merivale after many years of world-wandering. He is caught up in London's current political machinations in the form of militant suffragism, and with his old friends now in much more influential positions in British politics. Most are not supportive of Joyce Davenant, one of the main campaigners, but Toby falls for her. Unfortunately she is involved in a series of kidnaps, and her elder sister is the bad party in a notorious divorce at exactly the same time. The Davenants' social stock falls disastrously! The sixth sense of the title is in the mind of Toby's best friend Aintree, known as The Seraph, who finds, through its agency, one of the kidnapped. This is a standard story of love, energised by fine elegant writing and cool stylish worldliness.