Front matter

THE ANCIENT LAW

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

THE WHEEL OF LIFE

THE DELIVERANCE

THE BATTLE-GROUND

THE FREEMAN, AND OTHER POEMS

THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

PHASES OF AN INFERIOR PLANET

THE DESCENDANT

Copyright, 1908, by Doubleday, Page & Company Published, January, 1908 All Rights Reserved Including that of Translation into Foreign Languages Including the Scandinavian

TO MY GOOD FRIEND EFFENDI

CONTENTS

Book First—The New Life

CHAPTER PAGE

I.The Road 3

II.The Night15

III.The Return to Tappahannock31

IV.The Dream of Daniel Smith42

V.At Tappahannock54

VI.The Pretty Daughter of the Mayor62

VII.Shows the Graces of Adversity72

VIII."Ten Commandment Smith"90

IX.The Old and the New101

X.His Neighbour's Garden111

XI.Bullfinch's Hollow123

XII.A String of Coral135

Book Second—The Day of Reckoning

I.In Which a Stranger Appears147

II.Ordway Compromises With the Past162

III.A Change of Lodging174

IV.Shows That a Laugh Does not Heal a Heartache185

V.Treats of a Great Passion in a Simple Soul196

VI.In Which Baxter Plots209

VII.Shows That Politeness, Like Charity, Is an Elastic Mantle222

VIII.The Turn of the Wheel234

IX.At the Cross-roads248

X.Between Man and Man256

XI.Between Man and Woman268

Book Third—The Larger Prison

I.The Return to Life281

II.His Own Place290

III.The Outward Pattern303

IV.The Letter and the Spirit317

V.The Will of Alice329

VI.The Iron Bars341

VII.The Vision and the Fact353

VIII.The Weakness in Strength363

Book Fourth—Liberation

I.The Inward Light379

II.At Tappahannock Again392

III.Alice's Marriage409

IV.The Power of the Blood420

V.The House of Dreams434

VI.The Ultimate Choice443

VII.Flight454

VIII.The End of the Road469

IX.The Light Beyond482