Front matter

The Way of an Eagle

The Knave of Diamonds

The Rocks of Valpré

The Swindler, and Other Stories

The Keeper of the Door

Bars of Iron

The Hundredth Chance

The Safety Curtain, and Other Stories

Greatheart

The Lamp in the Desert

The Tidal Wave

The Top of the World

The Obstacle Race

The Odds and Other Stories

Charles Rex

Tetherstones

By

Ethel M. Dell

Author of “The Way of an Eagle,” “Charles Rex,” etc.

The Ryerson Press

Toronto 1923 Canada

Copyright, 1923

by

G. P. Putnam’s Sons

Made in the United States of America

I Dedicate This Book

TO VIOLET

The Dear Friend Who Always Stands By

As A Token of

My Ever-Loving Gratitude

For All She Has Done For Me

The lonely circle on the hill

Where mist-wreaths float and rise

Hither and thither, lingering still,

Like smoke of sacrifice—

Forgotten fires, forgotten rites,

Forgotten agonies.

The heaven-blue flowers bloom below

About the grim stone’s foot,

The sweet hare-bells that always grow

Where nought else e’er takes root.

Of all that stony wilderness,

The only fruit.

A presence in the moonlit night

Unseen doth ever brood,

As though it kept in silent sight

The stones rough-hewn and rude;

The shrine of which it was the god,—

The moorland solitude.

And never shall that vigil tire,

And never the great spell pass,

Where the Druids built their altar-fire

Over the dew-drenched grass,

Till the last loud trump shall shatter

The gates of brass.

And then forgotten priests shall wake

And forgotten victims rise,

And the old grey stones of the circle shake

In the place of sacrifice. . . .

But the heaven-blue flowers will bloom for aye

As flowers of Paradise.

CONTENTS

PART I

I.—The Machine

II.—The Breakdown

III.—A Business Proposition

IV.—The Accuser

V.—The Holiday

VI.—The Capture

VII.—Roger

VIII.—The Road to Nowhere

IX.—The Lions’ Den

PART II

I.—The Strangers

II.—Roger’s Master

III.—The Beast

IV.—Rebels

V.—Mr. Dermot

VI.—Maggie

VII.—The Path Through the Wilderness

VIII.—The Stones

IX.—The Letter

X.—Revelation

XI.—Failure

XII.—The Fires of Hell

XIII.—Escape

PART III

I.—The Victim

II.—The Bargain

III.—The Turn of the Tide

IV.—Ruth

V.—The Exile

VI.—The Chain

VII.—The Message

VIII.—The Miracle

IX.—The Invalid

X.—The Woman’s Right

XI.—The Perfect Gift

XII.—The Parting

PART IV

I.—The Land of Exile

II.—The Nightmare

III.—The Awakening

IV.—The Victory

V.—The Vision

VI.—The Inquisitor

VII.—Fair Play

VIII.—The Place of Sacrifice

IX.—Where the Giant Hare-bells Grow

Tetherstones