"I SHALL COME BACK."
"Dear Caro," said Lawrence, in the same whisper, "can you bear it?"
The girl sank on her knees by the bed. She reached up, and caught
hold of Lawrence's arm; she clung to it.
"No, no!" she cried, in a half voice; "it can't be! Let us try the
bath! Let us try everything! The dear little brother! I will not have
it so!"
She rose as quickly as she had knelt. She endeavored to take the boy
from the arms that held him.
"I will carry him," said Lawrence, rising. He had no hope, but he
walked steadily to the bathroom. He helped the mother put the rigid
form in the hot water.
The next moment he uttered a quick exclamation below his breath.
Had a faint flush come to the white little face?
The mother bent over her son. She rubbed his limbs; she pressed her
cheek to his; she seemed almost to breathe her own breath into him.
Carolyn stood leaning against the door-frame. She could do nothing
more; she could only wait, her pulses beating in her throat and
threatening to choke her.
Suddenly Lawrence stood upright. "Thank God!" he breathed. He turned
to Carolyn and took her hand, holding it firmly. They did not speak;
they stood there hand in hand.
It had all happened so quickly to him, the terror, the relief, that
now it still seemed as if he had not come to Savin Hill, as if he
must be in his own room at the hotel, and dreaming all this.
But the touch of that soft, tender, and strong hand,--was not that
real? And now the hand was withdrawn.
"Hullo, Rodney! That you?" A small, piping voice from the bath-tub
thus spoke.
"Run and get another blanket," said Mrs. Ffolliott.
In another moment the blanket was tightly wrapped about the boy in
his dripping nightgown, and Rodney had taken him again in his arms.
Thus the procession started back to the chamber they had just left.
Mrs. Ffolliott was now weeping aloud and as unrestrainedly as a child.
"What's the row, anyway?" asked a weak voice from Lawrence's shoulder.
"Wait," said Carolyn from behind.
"I won't wait, either," said the boy, feebly, but quite in character.
"Tell me now."
"You've been ill."
"Have I? I feel kinder queer, I do believe."
A silence followed, and continued, until the boy had been invested
with a dry night-robe and covered in bed.
"I don't want Rod to go," he now announced. "I want Rod to lie down
on this bed."
"Rodney, you must," said Mrs. Ffolliott.
"But, mamma, it may not be convenient--" began Carolyn.
"I want Rod!"
There were indications that the small legs under the bed-cover were
about to kick with what strength they had.
"I'll stay," said Lawrence.
So it came about that he did not go back to the hotel that night, and
that the crow spent the remainder of the time until morning on the
same chair where his master had placed him in one of the lower rooms
at Savin Hill.
The doctor came and spoke vaguely of "convulsive seizure," said
nothing could have been better than a warm bath, left some medicine,
and drove away.
Lawrence kept his promise to the boy, and passed the night on the bed
by Leander's side.
In the early morning he rose. The boy was asleep, but it was evident
that he would be ill,--how ill could not yet be told.
Weary, indescribably depressed, the young man went slowly down the
stairs.
A servant had apparently been watching for him, for a tray with
hot coffee and bread and butter was immediately brought to him.
Having eaten and drunk, a spark of courage seemed to come to his
consciousness.
He looked out of the window. An east fog had risen in the early
morning, and all the world was a dense mist. He could hear the low
booming of the sea against the shore.
Do you think he thought of Carolyn as those in battle think of peace,
as those in despair think of that time when they may hope?
He turned from the window and went to the room where he had left
Devil. He would take the crow and go back to his own life again. He
shivered uncontrollably.
The house was utterly still. A clock struck six. Mrs. Ffolliott was
with her son.
Yes, there was the crow, looking as if it had not stirred all night.
But it moved now as its master approached, raised itself, and turned
its head that it might gaze at him with one eye. It lifted its wings
also, and stretched out one leg, gaping as it did so.
The man's pulses gave a great start, and he sprang forward, seized
the bird, and found a small roll of thin paper fastened to its wing.
"So you are a carrier-dove," he said, harshly.
He took the paper to the window and unfolded it with hands that
trembled in spite of all his efforts to make them firm.
Yes, there was his wife's handwriting, close, upright, regular; her
hand had not trembled when she had penned these lines.
Lawrence's lips set themselves hardly under his mustache, as his
eyes, beneath heavily frowning brows, glanced at the first words.
These words were "My dear Rodney."
Having read thus much, Lawrence turned and pulled a chair up to the
window. Then he looked at the door; what if some one should come in?
It not being his own room he could not turn the key. He felt as if he
were on the brink of a precipice and he must be alone that he might
gaze over the edge of it unhindered.
Was it possible that he hated the woman who had written this? And now
had she disgraced him?
He walked out of the room with the letter held tightly in his hand.
As he reached the outer door Mrs. Ffolliott's voice called from above
the stairs:
"Rodney! You mustn't go! Lee may want you when he wakes."
"I will come back," he answered.
"Be sure! Come right back."
Lawrence made an inarticulate sound in response, then he closed the
outer door behind him and stood in the open air.
He hastened beyond a thicket of syringa; then, leaning against a
tree, he opened the paper again.
"MY DEAR RODNEY:--It strikes me that Devil will be a remarkably
fit messenger for the letter I'm going to write you. You see,
I shall have it all written when I ride away this morning, but
I think it will be more appropriate to take it with me and let
Devil deliver it. You'll be sure to find it sooner or later.
"I'm going away with Lord Maxwell. I suppose you'll think I'm
the only one to blame in the affair, and perhaps I am. But no
matter about that. You needn't believe for a moment that I'm
the least little bit in love with him, for I'm not. Who could
love a man with a chin like his, and who was always telling you
how jolly you are? No, I don't love him, and I _was_ intensely
in love with you. I've made a fine plan, I think. This is it: I
go off with Donald--that's Lord Maxwell, you know. That makes
a kind of scandal, to be sure, but it will soon blow over. I'm
so deadly tired and deadly dull being with you, and you're
so deadly tired and deadly dull being with me, that I, for
one, think almost anything would be better than our staying
together. You'll be able to get a divorce without the slightest
trouble; and I'll get my freedom, too. Then we can change
partners, as if the dance were over, and we glad enough that
it is over. Marriage need not be such a hard and fast affair,
for there's nothing in the world that people make such mistakes
about as they do about marriage. Now, why not 'all change
hands,' as they used to do in the old dances?
"I'm going to be very frank with you, Rodney. I'll confess
that I might not take such a decided step as this if I were
not afraid Maxwell would marry Carolyn. The dear girl! She
has already refused him once, so he tells me; but what does
one refusal mean? Just nothing at all; though it might with
Carolyn. But I don't want to risk that. They say the third time
never fails, and I shall be Lady Maxwell sooner or later. Of
course I shall be under a cloud for awhile, but I'm not afraid
but that I can win my way. And Donald is perfectly infatuated
with me. That goes without saying. This time no brewer's
daughter will step between us. How I am going on! But I wanted
you to understand the whole thing. I hope you won't delay
any about the divorce. Of course I know you love Carolyn;
of course I know you'll thank me in time for what I'm doing.
Why didn't I wait and try the incompatibility plea? Because
Maxwell might marry Carolyn, and then you'd be as disappointed
as I. So I'm sure, on the whole, you'll agree with me. And for
the sake of regaining your freedom you'll forgive me for the
scandal I make by doing this way. I'm sorry this way seemed to
be necessary, for I don't mind saying I shrink from it. Now, my
dear Rodney, don't swear; you'll live to thank me."
Thus the letter ended, without even a name signed to it.
"But it doesn't need a name," Lawrence said. He stood there and read
the pages three times, each reading seeming to shed a still brighter
glare on the character of the writer.
"That is the woman I married," he was thinking. "That woman!"
He turned about and faced the house, the turrets of which he could
see above the trees, blurred in the mist. He walked out from among
the syringas, walking unevenly, like a man who is drunk.
Above, in her chamber, Carolyn saw him. She was standing by the open
window. She leaned forward and watched him, her tired eyes dilating
as she watched. After a moment she left the room and ran quickly down
the stairs and out of the house.
Suddenly, as Lawrence went staggering on, a slender shape glided up
to him and drew his hand quickly within an arm.
"Rodney, lean on me," said Carolyn, in an unsteady voice, "Oh, how
ill you are! Here, sit on this bench. I will go and get some one to
help you."
Lawrence sank down on the bench, but he caught at the girl's skirt,
saying, breathlessly:
"Stay! Stay! Read this."
The letter fluttered out towards her. She stopped, standing perfectly
still. She recognized her cousin's writing, and her eyes darted over
the lines, not reading much, but taking in, as by a flash of lurid
light, the whole sense of the base epistle. She did not speak, but
stood gazing down at the letter after she had ceased to read it. She
did not wish to look in her companion's face; she felt that she could
not. Her own cheeks were hot with humiliated indignation.
Lawrence had leaned his elbows on his knees and covered his face
with his hands. He was not thinking; he was not even feeling. A dull
sensation of sinking down--down, he knew not where, was all that he
was conscious of. Then some keen stab, as if from a hot knife, went
through him. He started up, turning his face towards Carolyn. He
flung out his hands as if he were groping blindly.
"Oh, Caro, my love!" he cried, not knowing what he said.
Then he fell forward on the ground at her feet.
The climax of illness and anxiety and unhappiness seemed to have been
reached. The inanimate body was taken to the room which had always
been Lawrence's, and put upon his old bed.
Then followed days and weeks of illness, during which the man was
sometimes delirious, sometimes lying in a stupor.
A nurse and Mrs. Ffolliott and Carolyn watched over him.
At last, when summer had waned towards its end, and there were
already hints of the autumn glories, Lawrence opened his eyes and saw
Mrs. Ffolliott sitting by him.
"Is it a good while?" he asked, feebly.
She bent over him. "A few weeks."
"And Lee?"
"He's all right. Don't talk."
"No. I can't."
Then, in a moment, "Aunt Tishy, I'm going to die, and I'm glad of it."
"No, no!"
"Yes, I am. And I want you to tell Caro that I love her,--love her--"
He closed his eyes; he spoke dreamily, then was silent.
But he did not die. He began to gain steadily, and he often remarked
that it was a great mistake; then was the time for him to die.
Carolyn came no more to his room. Sometimes he heard her voice when a
door opened, or he could hear her singing far off somewhere.
Frequently the crow was allowed to come to the chamber, where he
would gravely amuse himself by hopping over the floor, occasionally
picking at something; or he would sit on the top of a chair and look
at the man on the bed.
At last Lawrence could go down-stairs and sit in the sun on the lawn,
the shadow of a man, his long, bony frame stretched out, his gaunt
face and great eyes turned towards the shining blue water.
Every day he told himself that perhaps the next day he could go away.
He was longing to work; he felt the springs of life and strength
slowly rising within him. Happiness was not for him, but there was
work.
One day Mrs. Ffolliott came across the grass and sat down beside
him. Indeed, she often did this, but he thought there was something
special in her manner just now.
"You're getting very much stronger and better, aren't you, Rodney?"
she asked.
"Oh, yes; I shall soon be all right," was the reply. "And I shall go
away as soon as I can. How good you've been to me!"
"Don't mention such a thing. Rodney--"
The speaker paused. She looked uneasily about her.
"Caro says it's time you were told," she went on, and then stopped
again.
Lawrence sat up erect. He began to brace himself for he knew not what.
"You might hear it from some one else, now--"
"Hear what?" in an imperative voice.
Mrs. Ffolliott twisted her fingers together. But she tried to go on.
"That day when Prudence went bicycling with Lord Maxwell--"
"Yes, I have her letter; I know all about it," he said, in a hard
voice. "Don't be afraid to speak of it."
"No, you don't know. Oh, how can I tell it? She was killed. They
were run into; she was thrown on to a rock,--killed instantly. Lord
Maxwell was badly hurt, but is nearly recovered. We couldn't tell
you before. We knew it the next day. Oh, the dreadful, dreadful
thing!"
Mrs. Ffolliott had risen. "Oh, don't look so!" she cried.
"Aunt Tishy, please leave me a few minutes."
She could hardly hear what he said, but she did hear it, and walked
away.
She looked back and saw him leaning forward in the old attitude, with
his hands over his face.
Up-stairs Caro saw him also. Her own face was ashen. She left the
window and sat down.
He was still sitting thus when Mrs. Ffolliott went back to him. She
put her hand on his shoulder.
"Rodney," she said, "I must remind you that no one knows what--what
there was in her letter,--that they were going away together,--only
Lord Maxwell, and you, and I, and Caro. You see, there'll be no
scandal."
"And she is dead. Now I am going to leave you, really."
It was three days later that Lawrence announced that he was going,
and he would not yield to remonstrances and assertions that he was
not well enough.
He saw Caro alone when he bade her good-by: he had asked to see her
alone.
"Lee is going to keep Devil," he said. "The boy wanted him."
Caro was in the embrasure of a window, leaning against it. She made a
silent motion of assent.
Lawrence walked about the room.
"I'm going to try to make something of my life," he went on.
He came and stood a moment before the girl. He took both her hands.
But all he said was:
"Caro, I shall come back."
THE END.
_SELECTIONS FROM L. C. PAGE AND COMPANY'S LIST OF NEW FICTION._
[Illustration: shield]
Selections from L. C. Page and Company's List of New Fiction.
An Enemy to the King.
From the Recently Discovered Memoirs of the Sieur de la
Tournoire. By ROBERT NEILSON STEPHENS. Illustrated by H. De M.
Young.
1 vol., library 12mo, cloth =$1.25=
An historical romance of the sixteenth century, describing the
adventures of a young French nobleman at the Court of Henry
IV., and on the field with Henry of Navarre.
The Continental Dragoon.
A Romance of Philipse Manor House, in 1778. By ROBERT NEILSON
STEPHENS, author of "An Enemy to the King." Illustrated by H.
C. Edwards.
1 vol., library 12mo, cloth =$1.50=
A stirring romance of the Revolution, the scene being laid in
and around the old Philipse Manor House, near Yonkers, which at
the time of the story was the central point of the so-called
"neutral territory" between the two armies.
Muriella; or, Le Selve.
By OUIDA. Illustrated by M. B. Prendergast.
1 vol., library 12mo, cloth =$1.25=
This is the latest work from the pen of the brilliant author
of "Under Two Flags," "Moths," etc., etc. It is the story of
the love and sacrifice of a young peasant girl, told in the
absorbing style peculiar to the author.
The Road to Paris.
By ROBERT NEILSON STEPHENS, author of "An Enemy to the King,"
"The Continental Dragoon," etc. Illustrated by H. C. Edwards.
1 vol., library 12mo, cloth =$1.50=
An historical romance, being an account of the life of an
American gentleman adventurer of Jacobite ancestry, whose
family early settled in the colony of Pennsylvania. The
scene shifts from the unsettled forests of the then West to
Philadelphia, New York, London, Paris, and, in fact, wherever
a love of adventure and a roving fancy can lead a soldier of
fortune. The story is written in Mr. Stephens's best style, and
is of absorbing interest.
Rose à Charlitte.
An Acadien Romance. By MARSHALL SAUNDERS, author of "Beautiful
Joe," etc. Illustrated by H. De M. Young.
1 vol., library 12mo, cloth =$1.50=
In this novel, the scene of which is laid principally in the
land of Evangeline, Marshall Saunders has made a departure
from the style of her earlier successes. The historical and
descriptive setting of the novel is accurate, the plot is well
conceived and executed, the characters are drawn with a firm
and delightful touch, and the fortunes of the heroine, Rose
à Charlitte, a descendant of an old Acadien family, will be
followed with eagerness by the author's host of admirers.
Bobbie McDuff.
By CLINTON ROSS, author of "The Scarlet Coat," "Zuleika," etc.
Illustrated by B. West Clinedinst.
1 vol., large 16mo, cloth =$1.00=
Clinton Ross is well known as one of the most promising of
recent American writers of fiction, and in the description
of the adventures of his latest hero, Bobbie McDuff, he has
repeated his earlier successes. Mr. Ross has made good use of
the wealth of material at his command. New York furnishes him
the hero, sunny Italy a heroine, grim Russia the villain of
the story, while the requirements of the exciting plot shift
the scene from Paris to New York, and back again to a remote,
almost feudal villa on the southern coast of Italy.
In Kings' Houses.
A Romance of the Reign of Queen Anne. By JULIA C. R. DORR,
author of "A Cathedral Pilgrimage," etc. Illustrated by Frank
T. Merrill.
1 vol., library 12mo, cloth =$1.50=
Mrs. Dorr's poems and travel sketches have earned for her a
distinct place in American literature, and her romance, "In
Kings' Houses," is written with all the charm of her earlier
works. The story deals with one of the most romantic episodes
in English history. Queen Anne, the last of the reigning
Stuarts, is described with a strong, yet sympathetic touch, and
the young Duke of Gloster, the "little lady," and the hero of
the tale, Robin Sandys, are delightful characterizations.
Sons of Adversity.
A Romance of Queen Elizabeth's Time. By L. COPE CONFORD, author
of "Captain Jacobus," etc. Illustrated by J. W. Kennedy.
1 vol., library 12mo, cloth =$1.25=
A tale of adventure on land and sea at the time when Protestant
England and Catholic Spain were struggling for naval supremacy.
Spanish conspiracies against the peace of good Queen Bess, a
vivid description of the raise of the Spanish siege of Leyden
by the combined Dutch and English forces, sea fights, the
recovery of stolen treasure, are all skilfully woven elements
in a plot of unusual strength.
The Count of Nideck.
From the French of Erckman-Chatrian, translated and adapted by
RALPH BROWNING FISKE. Illustrated by Victor A. Searles.
1 vol., library 12mo, cloth =$1.25=
A romance of the Black Forest, woven around the mysterious
legend of the Wehr Wolf. The plot has to do with the later
German feudal times, is brisk in action, and moves spiritedly
from start to finish. Mr. Fiske deserves a great deal of credit
for the excellence of his work. No more interesting romance has
appeared recently.
The Making of a Saint.
By W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM. Illustrated by Gilbert James.
1 vol., library 12mo, cloth =$1.50=
"The Making of a Saint" is a romance of Mediæval Italy, the
scene being laid in the 15th century. It relates the life of
a young leader of Free Companions who, at the close of one of
the many petty Italian wars, returns to his native city. There
he becomes involved in its politics, intrigues, and feuds, and
finally joins an uprising of the townspeople against their
lord. None can resent the frankness and apparent brutality of
the scenes through which the hero and his companions of both
sexes are made to pass, and many will yield ungrudging praise
to the author's vital handling of the truth. In the characters
are mirrored the life of the Italy of their day. The book will
confirm Mr. Maugham's reputation as a strong and original
writer.
Omar the Tentmaker.
A Romance of Old Persia. By NATHAN HASKELL DOLE. Illustrated by
F. T. Merrill.
1 vol., library 12mo, cloth =$1.50=
Mr. Dole's study of Persian literature and history admirably
equips him to enter into the life and spirit of the time of
the romance, and the hosts of admirers of the inimitable
quatrains of Omar Khayyam, made famous by Fitzgerald, will be
deeply interested in a tale based on authentic facts in the
career of the famous Persian poet. The three chief characters
are Omar Khayyam, Nizam-ul-Mulk, the generous and high-minded
Vizier of the Tartar Sultan Malik Shah of Mero; and Hassan
ibu Sabbah, the ambitious and revengeful founder of the sect
of the Assassins. The scene is laid partly at Naishapur, in
the Province of Khorasan, which about the period of the First
Crusade was at its acme of civilization and refinement, and
partly in the mountain fortress of Alamut, south of the Caspian
Sea, where the Ismailians under Hassan established themselves
towards the close of the 11th century. Human nature is always
the same, and the passions of love and ambition, of religion
and fanaticism, of friendship and jealousy, are admirably
contrasted in the fortunes of these three able and remarkable
characters as well as in those of the minor personages of the
story.
Captain Fracasse.
A new translation from the French by Gautier. Illustrated by
Victor A. Searles.
1 vol., library 12mo, cloth =$1.25=
This famous romance has been out of print for some time, and
a new translation is sure to appeal to its many admirers, who
have never yet had any edition worthy of the story.
The Rejuvenation of Miss Semaphore.
A farcical novel. By HAL GODFREY. Illustrated by Etheldred B.
Barry.
1 vol., library 12mo, cloth =$1.25=
A fanciful, laughable tale of two maiden sisters of uncertain
age who are induced, by their natural longing for a return to
youth and its blessings, to pay a large sum for a mystical
water which possesses the value of setting backwards the hands
of time. No more delightfully fresh and original book has
appeared since "Vice Versa" charmed an amused world. It is well
written, drawn to the life, and full of the most enjoyable
humor.
Midst the Wild Carpathians.
By MAURUS JOKAI, author of "Black Diamonds," "The Lion
of Janina," etc. Authorized translation by R. Nisbet Bain.
Illustrated by J. W. Kennedy.
1 vol., library 12mo, cloth =$1.25=
A thrilling, historical, Hungarian novel, in which the
extraordinary dramatic and descriptive powers of the great
Magyar writer have full play. As a picture of feudal life in
Hungary it has never been surpassed for fidelity and vividness.
The translation is exceedingly well done.
The Golden Dog.
A Romance of Quebec. By WILLIAM KIRBY. New authorized edition.
Illustrated by J. W. Kennedy.
1 vol., library 12mo, cloth =$1.25=
A powerful romance of love, intrigue, and adventure in the time
of Louis XV. and Mme. de Pompadour, when the French colonies
were making their great struggle to retain for an ungrateful
court the fairest jewels in the colonial diadem of France.
Bijli the Dancer.
By JAMES BLYTHE PATTON. Illustrated by Horace Van Rinth.
1 vol., library 12mo, cloth =$1.50=
A novel of Modern India. The fortunes of the heroine, an Indian
Naucht girl, are told with a vigor, pathos, and a wealth of
poetic sympathy that makes the book admirable from first to
last.
"To Arms!"
Being Some Passages from the Early Life of Allan Oliphant,
Chirurgeon, Written by Himself, and now Set Forth for the First
Time. By ANDREW BALFOUR. Illustrated by F. W. Glover.
1 vol., library 12mo, cloth =$1.50=
A romance dealing with an interesting phase of Scottish and
English history, the Jacobite Insurrection of 1715, which will
appeal strongly to the great number of admirers of historical
fiction. The story is splendidly told, the magic circle which
the author draws about the reader compelling a complete
forgetfulness of prosaic nineteenth century life.
Friendship and Folly.
A novel. By MARIA LOUISE POOLE, author of "In a Dike Shanty,"
etc. Illustrated by J. W. Kennedy.
1 vol., library 12mo, cloth =$1.25=
An extremely well-written story of modern life. The interest
centres in the development of the character of the heroine, a
New England girl, whose high-strung temperament is in constant
revolt against the confining limitations of nineteenth century
surroundings. The reader's interest is held to the end, and the
book will take high rank among American psychological novels.
A Hypocritical Romance and other stories.
By CAROLINE TICKNOR. Illustrated by J. W. Kennedy.
1 vol., large 16mo, cloth =$1.00=
Miss Ticknor, well known as one of the most promising of the
younger school of American writers, has never done better work
than in the majority of these clever stories, written in a
delightful comedy vein.
Cross Trails.
By VICTOR WAITE. Illustrated by J. W. Kennedy.
1 vol., library 12mo, cloth =$1.50=
A Spanish-American novel of unusual interest, a brilliant,
dashing, and stirring story, teeming with humanity and life.
Mr. Waite is to be congratulated upon the strength with which
he has drawn his characters.
A Mad Madonna and other stories.
By L. CLARKSON WHITELOCK, with eight half-tone illustrations.
1 vol., large 16mo, cloth =$1.00=
A half dozen remarkable psychological stories, delicate in
color and conception. Each of the six has a touch of the
supernatural, a quick suggestion, a vivid intensity, and a
dreamy realism that is matchless in its forceful execution.
On the Point.
A Summer Idyl. By NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, author of "Not Angels
Quite," with dainty half-tone illustrations as chapter headings.
1 vol., large 16mo, cloth =$1.00=
A bright and clever story of a summer on the coast of Maine,
fresh, breezy, and readable from the first to the last page.
The narrative describes the summer outing of a Mr. Merrithew
and his family. The characters are all honest, pleasant people,
whom we are glad to know. We part from them with the same
regret with which we leave a congenial party of friends.
Cavalleria Rusticana; or, Under the Shadow of Etna.
Translated from the Italian of Giovanni Verga, by NATHAN
HASKELL DOLE. Illustrated by Etheldred B. Barry.
1 vol., 16mo, cloth =$0.50=
Giovanni Verga stands at present as unquestionably the most
prominent of the Italian novelists. His supremacy in the domain
of the short story and in the wider range of the romance is
recognized both at home and abroad. The present volume contains
a selection from the most dramatic and characteristic of his
Sicilian tales. Verga is himself a native of Sicily, and his
knowledge of that wonderful country, with its poetic and yet
superstitious peasantry, is absolute. Such pathos, humor,
variety, and dramatic quality are rarely met in a single volume.
Transcriber's note
Clear printer's errors were corrected, but original spelling was not
modified or harmonized, with one exception: "reënter" was changed by
"reenter" (Chapter IV): "Here she was interrupted by a whoop from
somewhere,--reënter Leander at a full run."
Italic text has been marked with _underscores_. Bold text has been
noted as =such=.
End of Project Gutenberg's Friendship and Folly, by Maria Louise Pool