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"And how is Mr. Rowlandson?" asked Phyllis.
"Odder than ever," replied Mrs. Farquharson. "He is getting a little childish, I think. The other night he told me the greatest rigmarole about some collector or other in Birmingham. He collected weapons, of all things! He had Mr. Rowlandson buy him swords, and daggers, and spears, and even bows and arrows from America, until his house fairly rattled with them. Finally, says Mr. Rowlandson, he got him the stone that David flung at Goliath, and the jawbone that Samson smote the Philistines with. 'Now,' says he, 'I am looking for the club that Cain slew Abel with, and then he will be complete.' Did ever you hear such a farrago? And his eyes twinkling all the time as though he was as sensible as ever could be! Yesterday I told him I was coming down here to take tea with Mrs. Burbage. 'With Mrs. Burbage!' says he. 'Well, what next?' 'Now, heed my words,' says I. 'That woman is not as black as she's been painted.' And then he laughs. Childish, I say. But he's terrible down on you, Mr. Landless, because the baby's a boy. 'Mr.
Landless has disappointed me,' says he. 'He knows her name should be Valentine.' 'But, Mrs. Landless wanted a boy,' says I, 'to call him Peter'; as she has, bless his darling little heart, that knows his old Farquharson! 'Well,' says he, 'Mr. Landless put her up to it.'"
When she had returned to Burbage, John and Sir Peter began work on the proofs of "Recollections of an Engineer." The publishers had wished to call it "Recollections of a Great Engineer." Sir Peter told them quietly there would be no recollections if they insisted on the word.
The story of the Natal bridge would have been the making of this twelfth chapter. But the Natal story has a chapter of its own in the "Recollections" (chapter XXII--p. 227), and as the copyright restrictions are in force you will have to look for it there. Mr.
Rowlandson has the book for sale--if you don't find it elsewhere.
The work on the proofs was interrupted when the baby insisted on having the red rose from Sir Peter's b.u.t.tonhole. Sir Peter cut the thorns from its stem before he gave it into the tiny fingers.
[Ill.u.s.tration: SIR PETER GAVE IT INTO THE TINY FINGERS]
Burbage and Farquharson stood by the garden-gate, looking in. The golden glow of late afternoon was over all. The roses nodded their heavy heads all about them. The gentle murmur of the flowing river, lapping the old stairs at the end of the garden, could be faintly heard.
Sir Peter cut the thorns from the rose, and gave it to the baby, leaning forward in its young mother's arms.
"Isn't it a pretty sight?" whispered Burbage.
"The prettiest sight that ever was in the world," said Farquharson, fumbling for her handkerchief.
THE END
Published by HOUGHTON MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
THE INVADERS
By FRANCES N.S. ALLEN
"A warm, rich, human story, which takes its substance from the successful inroads of thrifty Irish and Polack and the whole whatnot of foreign newcomers upon the lean New England land, with the desperate resentments growing out of this usurpation and the futile attempts to stem the tide of encroachment."--_Was.h.i.+ngton Evening Star._
"A capital story, but also a fine piece of workmans.h.i.+p and a contribution to sociology."--_Congregationalist._
"A clean, wholesome, stimulating story pleasantly told."--_Detroit Free Press._
"Deals wisely and sympathetically with one of the big social problems which beset changing New England."--_Brooklyn Eagle._
V.V.'S EYES
By HENRY SYDNOR HARRISON
"'V.V.'s Eyes' is a novel of so elevated a spirit, yet of such strong interest, unartificial, and uncritical, that it is obviously a fulfillment of Mr. Harrison's intention to 'create real literature.'"--_Baltimore News._
"In our judgment it is one of the strongest and at the same time most delicately wrought American novels of recent years."--_The Outlook._
"'V.V.'s Eyes' is an almost perfect example of idealistic realism. It has the soft heart, the clear vision and the boundless faith in humanity that are typical of our American outlook on life."--_Chicago Record-Herald._
"A delicate and artistic study of striking power and literary quality which may well remain the high-water mark in American fiction for the year.... Mr. Harrison definitely takes his place as the one among our younger American novelists of whom the most enduring work may be hoped for."--_Springfield Republican._
STORIES OF CHARM
By WILLIAM JOHN HOPKINS
THE CLAMMER
"It is seldom that one comes upon a bit of fiction which combines so much clever fancy with so much delicacy, or which blends light comedy so skillfully with deep feeling."--_Brooklyn Eagle._
OLD HARBOR
"A tale to chuckle over.... It is not often that a reader has an opportunity in the pages of a book to come in touch with such a group of genial and lovable people."--_Minneapolis Journal._
THE MEDDLINGS OF EVE
"Brings us once again into touch with those delightful and very human people that we learned to know in 'The Clammer.'"--_The Bookman._
CONCERNING SALLY
"The story is at once so human and so unusual that it excites deep interest.... Sally is a real person, a person whose woes and joys the reader cannot choose but share."--_Boston Herald._
A SAFETY MATCH
