E 15

II THE JILT 52

III EXPLORERS OF THE DAWN 76

IV A MERRY INTERLUDE 99

V FREEDOM 127

VI D'YE KEN JOHN PEEL 160

VII GRANFA 187

VIII NOBLESSE OBLIGE 219

IX THE COBBLER AND HIS WIFE 250

X THE NEW DAY 276

_FOREWORD_

_The publisher has asked me to write a note of introduction to this book.
Surely it needs none; but it is a pleasant task to write prefaces for other
people's books. When one writes a preface to a book of one's own, one
naturally grovels, deprecates, and has no opportunity to call the friendly
reader's attention to what the author considers the beauties and
significances of the work. How agreeable, then, to be able to do this
service for another._

_Moreover, one hopes that such a service may not be wholly vain. Every book
has its own special audience, for whom--very likely unconsciously--it was
written: the group of people, far spread over the curve of earth, who will
find in that particular book just the sort of magic and wisdom that they
seek. And, as every one who has studied the book business knows, books very
often tragically miss just the public that was waiting for them. It is such
an obscure and nebulous problem, getting the book into the hands of the
people to whom it will appeal. One knows that there are thousands of
readers for whom that book (whatever it may be) will mean keen pleasure.
But how is one to find them and bring the volume to their eyes?_

_I owe to the "Atlantic Monthly" my own introduction to Miss de la Roche's
writing. Several years ago, when I was acting as a modest periscope for a
publishing house, I read in the "Atlantic" a fanciful little story by her
which seemed to me so delicate and humorous in fancy, so refreshing and
happy in expression, that I wrote to the author in the hope of some day
luring her to offer a book to the house with which I was connected. We had
some pleasant correspondence. Time passed: I fell from the placid ramparts
of the publishing business, into the more noisy but not less happy bustle
of the newspaper world. But still, though I am not a conscientious
correspondent, I managed