Front matter

New 6s. Novels

THE ISLAND PHARISEES By JOHN GALSWORTHY

THE MAGNETIC NORTH By ELIZABETH ROBINS

URIAH THE HITTITE By WOLF WYLLARDE

THE MONEY GOD By J. P. BLAKE

LOVE THE FIDDLER By LLOYD OSBOURNE

THE STORY OF SUSAN By MRS. HENRY DUDENEY

THE RELENTLESS CITY By E. F. BENSON

THE MASTERFOLK By HALDANE MACFALL

THE JEWEL OF SEVEN STARS By BRAM STOKER

THE EVIL EYE By DANIEL WOODROFFE

THE WEB By FREDERICK TREVOR HILL

LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN, 20 and 21 BEDFORD STREET, W.C.

The Interloper

By

Violet Jacob

(Mrs. Arthur Jacob)

Author of ‘The Sheep-Stealers’

London William Heinemann 1904

This Edition enjoys copyright in all countries signatory to the Berne Treaty, and is not to be imported into the United States of America

TO AN UNDYING MEMORY

AUTHOR’S NOTE

BEFORE proceeding with this story I must apologize for a striking inaccuracy which it contains. I have represented the educated characters as speaking, but for certain turns of phrase, the ordinary English which is now universal. But, in Scotland, in the very early nineteenth century, gentle and simple alike kept a national distinction of language, and remnants of it lingered in the conversation, as I remember it, of the two venerable and unique old ladies from whom the characters of Miss Hersey Robertson and her sister are taken. They called it ‘Court Scots.’

For the assistance of that tender person, the General Reader, I have ignored it.

V. J.

1903.

CONTENTS

BOOK I

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE HEIR 1

II. AT GARVIEKIRK 14

III. FRIENDSHIP 24

IV. JIMMY 36

V. THE STRIFE OF TONGUES 49

VI. THE DOVECOTE OF MORPHIE 59

VII. THE LOOKING-GLASS 73

VIII. THE HOUSE IN THE CLOSE 81

IX. ON FOOT AND ON WHEELS 91

X. KING COPHETUA’S CORRESPONDENCE 101

XI. THE MOUSE AND THE LION 111

XII. GRANNIE TAKES A STRONG ATTITUDE 117

XIII. PLAIN SPEAKING 127

XIV. STORM AND BROWN SILK 140

XV. THE THIRD VOICE 150

XVI. BETWEEN LADY ELIZA AND CECILIA 160

XVII. CECILIA PAYS HER DEBTS 168

XVIII. THE BOX WITH THE LAUREL-WREATH 177

BOOK II

XIX. SIX MONTHS 186

XX. ROCKET 194

XXI. THE BROKEN LINK 205

XXII. CECILIA SEES THE WILD GEESE 215

XXIII. AN EMPTY HOUSE 225

XXIV. A ROYAL VISIT 234

XXV. MRS. SOMERVILLE HAS SCRUPLES 241

XXVI. ALEXANDER BARCLAY DOES HIS BEST 251

XXVII. THE SKY FALLS ON GILBERT 257

XXVIII. AGNETA ON THE UNEXPECTED 269

XXIX. THE QUEEN OF THE CADGERS TAKES THE ROAD 275

XXX. MORPHIE KIRK 286

EPILOGUE 298