Lucas Malet

NEW YORK Dodd, Mead & Company 1901

Copyright, 1901 By Dodd, Mead & Company

THE CAXTON PRESS NEW YORK.

CONTENTS

BOOK I

THE CLOWN

CHAP. PAGE

I. Acquainting the Reader with a Fair Domain and the Maker Thereof 1

II. Giving the Very Earliest Information Obtainable of the Hero of this Book 7

III. Touching Matters Clerical and Controversial 19

IV. Raising Problems which it is the Purpose of this History to Resolve 25

V. In which Julius March Beholds the Vision of the New Life 34

VI. Accident or Destiny, According to Your Humour 44

VII. Mrs. William Ormiston Sacrifices a Wine-glass to Fate 57

VIII. Enter a Child of Promise 69

IX. In which Katherine Calmady Looks on Her Son 76

X. The Birds of the Air Take Their Breakfast 84

BOOK II

THE BREAKING OF DREAMS

I. Recording some Aspects of a Small Pilgrim's Progress 93

II. In which Our Hero Improves His Acquaintance with Many Things—Himself Included 104

III. Concerning that which, Thank God, Happens Almost Every Day 117

IV. Which Smells very Vilely of the Stable 128

V. In which Dickie is Introduced to a Little Dancer with Blush-roses in Her Hat 140

VI. Dealing with a Physician of the Body and a Physician of the Soul 149

VII. An Attempt to Make the Best of It 159

VIII. Telling, Incidentally, of a Broken-down Postboy and a Country Fair 169

BOOK III

LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI

I. In which Our Hero's World Grows Sensibly Wider 181

II. Telling How Dickie's Soul was Somewhat Sick, and How He Met Fair Women on the Confines of a Wood 186

III. In which Richard Confirms One Judgment and Reverses Another 195

IV. Julius March Bears Testimony 203

V. Telling How Queen Mary's Crystal Ball Came to Fall on the Gallery Floor 215

VI. In which Dickie Tries to Ride Away from His Own Shadow, with Such Success as Might Have Been Anticipated 231

VII. Wherein the Reader is Courteously Invited to Improve His Acquaintance with Certain Persons of Quality 240

VIII. Richard Puts His Hand to a Plough from which There is no Turning Back 252

IX. Which Touches Incidentally on Matters of Finance 264

X. Mr. Ludovic Quayle Among the Prophets 280

XI. Containing Samples Both of Earthly and Heavenly Love 289

BOOK IV

A SLIP BETWIXT CUP AND LIP

I. Lady Louisa Barking Traces the Finger of Providence 302

II. Telling How Vanity Fair Made Acquaintance with Richard Calmady 314

III. In which Katherine Tries to Nail Up the Weather-glass to Set Fair 324

IV. A Lesson Upon the Eleventh Commandment—"Parents Obey Your Children" 337

V. Iphigenia 350

VI. In which Honoria St. Quentin Takes the Field 362

VII. Recording the Astonishing Valour Displayed by a Certain Small Mouse in a Corner 375

VIII. A Manifestation of the Spirit 386

IX. In which Dickie Shakes Hands with the Devil 397

BOOK V

RAKE'S PROGRESS

I. In which the Reader is Courteously Entreated to Grow Older by the Space of Some Four Years, and to Sail Southward Ho! Away 417

II. Wherein Time is Discovered to Have Worked Changes 429

III. Helen de Vallorbes Apprehends Vexatious Complications 438

IV. "Mater Admirabilis" 447

V. Exit Camp 455

VI. In which M. Paul Destournelle Has the Bad Taste to Threaten to Upset the Apple-cart 469

VII. Splendide Mendax 479

VIII. Helen de Vallorbes Learns Her Rival's Name 490

IX. Concerning that Daughter of Cupid and Psyche Whom Men Call Voluptas 506

X. The Abomination of Desolation 511

XI. In which Dickie Goes to the End of the World and Looks Over the Wall 526

BOOK VI

THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW EARTH

I. Miss St. Quentin Bears Witness to the Faith that is in Her 544

II. Telling How, Once Again, Katherine Calmady Looked on Her Son 555

III. Concerning a Spirit in Prison 566

IV. Dealing with Matters of Hearsay and Matters of Sport 575

V. Telling How Dickie Came to Untie a Certain Tag of Rusty, Black Ribbon 588

VI. A Litany of the Sacred Heart 600

VII. Wherein Two Enemies are Seen to Cry Quits 611

VIII. Concerning the Brotherhood Founded by Richard Calmady, and Other Matters of Some Interest 628

IX. Telling How Ludovic Quayle and Honoria St. Quentin Watched the Trout Rise in the Long Water 639

X. Concerning a Day of Honest Warfare and a Sunset Harbinger Not of the Night But of the Dawn 655

XI. In which Richard Calmady Bids the Long-suffering Reader Farewell 679