The Project Gutenberg EBook of The O'Ruddy, by Stephen Crane and Robert Barr

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Title: The O'Ruddy
A Romance

Author: Stephen Crane
Robert Barr

Illustrator: C. D. Williams

Release Date: August 2, 2009 [EBook #29573]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE O'RUDDY

_A ROMANCE_

BY

STEPHEN CRANE

_Author of "The Red Badge of Courage," "Active
Service," "Wounds in the Rain," etc._

AND

ROBERT BARR

_Author of "Tekla," "In the Midst of Alarms,"
"Over the Border," "The Victors," etc._

_With frontispiece by_

C. D. WILLIAMS

NEW YORK

FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY

PUBLISHERS

_Copyright, 1903,_

BY FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY

* * * * *

THE O'RUDDY

CHAPTER I

My chieftain ancestors had lived at Glandore for many centuries and
were very well known. Hardly a ship could pass the Old Head of Kinsale
without some boats putting off to exchange the time of day with her,
and our family name was on men's tongues in half the seaports of
Europe, I dare say. My ancestors lived in castles which were like
churches stuck on end, and they drank the best of everything amid the
joyous cries of a devoted peasantry. But the good time passed away
soon enough, and when I had reached the age of eighteen we had nobody
on the land but a few fisher-folk and small farmers, people who were
almost law-abiding, and my father came to die more from disappointment
than from