SCENE XX
“COMING!”
_Four years later_
A forest of white crosses on the battlefields of France.
Two British soldiers moved among them, seeking a special name.
At length they found it.
LUKE SPARROW
“Ah, here it is! Here he lies. Well, there are many above ground, hale and hearty, who but for him would be lying as he lies to-day; and I’m one of them.
“Brave? Good Lord, he didn’t know what fear meant! Each time he went over the top you might have thought he was going to his bridal. He used to call this bloody war the Great Chance. And such a pal! Do you mind how it kept our spirits up only to look at him, let alone his hand on your shoulder or his voice in your ear?
“But life-saving was his passion. No place was too hot for him, if a helpless man lay there to be brought in. V.C.? He earned it thirty times over! And always came through all right.
“But at last they got him, and no mistake about it. Both legs, and through the chest; past operating.
“I was with him at the end. He’d been lying very still, just groaning a bit on the quiet; when suddenly he rises up on his elbow and shouts, ‘Coming!’ clear as a bugle call. ‘Coming!’ he says, and falls back dead.”
The two stood looking at the simple white cross and the grave it marked; then turned to watch an old man, in sombre clothing, who moved among the graves, anxiously seeking. He carried in his hand a wreath of immortelles.
At last he drew near, read Luke Sparrow’s name, and, baring his head, fell upon his knees beside the cross, and sobbed.
The soldiers turned away, respecting the old man’s grief.
After a while he rose, laid the wreath at the foot of the cross, and went his way.
Luke Sparrow’s comrades came back and stooped to read what was written on a card attached to the wreath.
“Hullo!” said one, “The old chap has made a mistake. See here!”
To
SIR NIGEL GUIDO CARDROSS TINTAGEL, BART.,
in faithful and loving remembrance from his humble servants Mary and Thomas
_Greater love hath no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends._
“Leave it alone,” said the other soldier. “He was worth a score of barts! Let him keep the wreath.”
Then they also went their way.
And the winds of God blew gently over that forest of plain crosses, bearing the vast army of heroic names, which are not forgotten before God, but inscribed for ever in the Book of Life.
O years! And Age! Farewell: Behold I go, Where I do know Infinity to dwell.
And these mine eyes shall see All times, how they Are lost i’ the Sea Of vast Eternity.
Where never Moon shall sway The Stars; but she And Night, shall be Drown’d in one endless Day.
ROBERT HERRICK (1629).
_BY FLORENCE L. BARCLAY_
THE WHEELS OF TIME THE ROSARY THE MISTRESS OF SHENSTONE THE FOLLOWING OF THE STAR THROUGH THE POSTERN GATE THE UPAS TREE THE BROKEN HALO THE WALL OF PARTITION MY HEART’S RIGHT THERE IN HOC ✠ VINCE THE WHITE LADIES OF WORCESTER RETURNED EMPTY
→ _The Author of “The Rosary”_ ←
Florence L. Barclay
If sales are a criterion of popularity, Mrs. Barclay’s novels have certainly achieved a prodigious success.
The publication of her books has now reached upwards of 2,000,000 copies, with an ever growing demand. And all of this is due to the author’s extraordinary ability in handling her theme, for her genius in blending material luxury and spiritual mystery, and for her skillful working out of well rounded plots.
Here is a list of Mrs. Barclay’s books:
_Novels_:
Returned Empty The Rosary The Mistress of Shenstone Through the Postern Gate The Upas Tree The Broken Halo The Following of the Star The Wall of Partition The White Ladies of Worcester
_Shorter Works_:
In Hoc Signo Vince My Heart’s Right There
_A List of Good Fiction_
Sunny Ducrow By Henry St. John Cooper
The story of a factory girl, a merry madcap, who by sheer force of character becomes stage star and successful business woman.
The Tidal Wave By Ethel M. Dell
Ethel Dell writes fiction the whole world reads. Here are six of her “long short” stories, each one containing unusual and strikingly dramatic situations.
A Pawn in Pawn By Hilda M. Sharp
The romance of a young girl rescued, from a convent for illegitimate children, by a poet, and of her stormy but successful attainment.
Jane By Anna Alice Chapin
A real American novel. Sentiment without sentimentality; drama without melodrama; happy but not gushing.
The Rose of Jericho By Ruth Holt Boucicault
A brilliant novel of stage life, with an unusual and unconventional heroine. A frankly daring discussion of the sex problem.
The Gate of Fulfillment By Knowles Ridsdale
The charming, amusing, and original story of a semi-invalid and his secretary companion.
Poor Dear Theodora By Florence Irwin
The romance of a young girl who breaks away from her humdrum environment to find adventure and happiness at the end of the road.
[Sidenote: _Romance_ _Love_ _Adventure_ _Mystery_ _Intrigue_]
_Ethel M. Dell_
_Her Full Length Novels_
[Sidenote: _Ethel Dell is universally recognized as one of the leading novelists of the day._]
[Sidenote: _Though each new book meets with a wider popularity than the last, the older books are in increasingly popular demand also._]
The Top of the World The Lamp in the Desert Greatheart The Hundredth Chance The Keeper of the Door The Rocks of Valpré The Knave of Diamonds The Way of an Eagle
_Her Shorter Stories_
[Sidenote: _Ethel Dell writes fiction the whole world reads, and almost all of her “long short” stories have been filmed._]
The Swindler The Safety Curtain The Tidal Wave
_A List of Good Fiction_
The Cruise of the Scandal By Victor Bridges
Amusing and colorful stories of action, and fantastic adventures, by the clever author of _The Lady from Long Acre_, _A Rogue by Compulsion_, etc.
The Treasure of the Isle of Mist By W. W. Tarn
An exquisite fantasy contrived with delicious humor, with a lovable heroine who has a “warm heart and a largish size in shoes.”
The Substance of a Dream By F. W. Bain
A gorgeously exotic story from the Hindu, in which a marvelously beautiful Queen amuses herself with many lovers until she meets one who “loves with hatred instead of love.”
Trailin’ By Max Brand
Heywood Broun of the _New York Tribune_ declares this one of the best Western stories he ever read.
The Gold Girl By James B. Hendryx
A man’s size novel of the West in which a lost mine, a mysterious jug, and a distinctly original type of hero play important parts.
A Critic in Pall Mall By Oscar Wilde
Essays and criticisms collected from the _Pall Mall Gazette_ and other sources. Never before published in book form. This volume completes our 15–volume set of the works of Oscar Wilde. Semi-flexible cloth or flexible leather.
The Wonderful Adventures of Phra the Phoenician By Edwin Lester Arnold
An Arabian Nights entertainment equal in its field to anything this writer’s distinguished father, author of _The Light of Asia_, ever conceived. The fantastic chronicle of a character who existed in many eras.
Sheepskins and Grey Russet
By
E. Temple Thurston
Author of “The City of Beautiful Nonsense,” “The World of Wonderful Reality,” “David and Jonathan,” etc.
_8º. Illustrated throughout by Émile Verpilleux_
“Our clothing is good sheepskins Grey russet for our wives.”
_Corridon’s song from the “Complete Angler.”_
A whimsical, wholly delightful adventurous assay at country life. This volume carries on in a delectable fashion all that exquisiteness in writing that characterized an earlier book, _The Open Window_. The story progresses from the buying of the old farm through all the humorous entangling mysteries that enhearten and confound the amateur householder.
The Treasure of the Isle of Mist
A Tale of the Isle of Skye
By
W. W. Tarn
_8º_
An exquisite fantasy contrived with delicious humor with a lovable small heroine who has “a warm heart and a largish size in shoes”—a tale of utmost charm and much of the lore of the East and West that has filled the story-books of the world. Here is a magic which calls to young and old alike. You will love Fiona and her father the Student and undoubtedly you will be well disposed toward the Urchin—but whether you will care for Jeconiah—well you must decide that for yourself.
David and Jonathan
By
E. Temple Thurston
Author of “The City of Beautiful Nonsense”
The two friends, so different in temperament and physique, but one in understanding—last to leave the burning ship, are finally thrown half dead on scorching African sands.
Six days later a ship’s boat plunges through the breakers containing six bodies, apparently dead from hunger and thirst—but one breathes, a woman. Face to face with the eternal impulses of life, these three souls, completely isolated from the civilized world, work out their destiny through the instincts and impulses of primitive man. A fantastic tale, yet real and plausible, thrilling in parts, and as whimsical as _The City of Beautiful Nonsense_.
The Beloved Sinner
By
Rachel Swete Macnamara
Author of the “Fringe of the Desert,” “The Torch of Life,” and “Drifting Waters”
One of the very prettiest of springtime romances—a tale of exuberant young spirits intoxicated with the springtime of living, of love gone adventuring on the rough road—a story, humorous with the gay impudences of a young Eve who is half-afraid and altogether delighted with her fairy-prince.
G. P. Putnam’s Sons
New York
London
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
1. Moved the list of the author’s books from the beginning to between p. 247 and the first advertising page. 2. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling. 3. Retained anachronistic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed. 4. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.