| By ROBERT W. CHAMBERS |
| Author of “The Girl Philippa,” “Who Goes There,”
“The Hidden Children,” Etc. | | emblem | WITH FRONTISPIECE
By W. D. STEVENS | | A. L. BURT COMPANY | | Publishers | New York | | Published by Arrangement with D. Appleton & Company | |
Copyright, 1917, by
ROBERT W. CHAMBERS
Copyright, 1916, 1917, by the International Magazine Company
Printed in the United States of America
TO MY FRIEND
EDGAR SISSON
| Dans c’mÉtier-lÀ, faut
rien chercher À comprendre.
RenÉ Benjamin |
| ALAK’S SONG |
| Where are you going,
NaÏa?
Through the still noon—
Where are you going?
To hear the thunder of the sea
And the wind blowing!—
To find a stormy moon to comfort me
Across the dune! |
|
| Why are you weeping,
NaÏa?
Through the still noon—
Why are you weeping?
Because I found no wind, no sea,
No white surf leaping,
Nor any flying moon to comfort me
Upon the dune. |
|
| What did you see there,
NaÏa?
In the still noon—
What did you see there?
Only the parched world drowsed in drought,
And a fat bee, there,
Prying and probing at a poppy’s mouth
That drooped a-swoon. |
|
| What did you hear there,
NaÏa?
In the still noon—
What did you hear there?
Only a kestrel’s lonely cry
From the wood near there—
A rustle in the wheat as I passed by—
A cricket’s rune.
|
|
| Who led you homeward,
NaÏa?
Through the still noon—
Who led you homeward?
My soul within me sought the sea,
Leading me foam-ward:
But the lost moon’s ghost returned with me
Through the high noon.
|
|
| Where is your soul then,
NaÏa?
Lost at high noon—
Where is your soul then?
It wanders East—or West—I think—
Or near the Pole, then—
Or died—perhaps there on the dune’s dry brink
Seeking the moon. |
THE DARK STAR
“The dying star grew dark; the last light faded from it; went out. Prince Erlik laughed.
“And suddenly the old order of things began to pass away more swiftly.
“Between earth and outer space—between Creator and created, confusing and confounding their identities,—a rushing darkness grew—the hurrying wrack of immemorial storms heralding whirlwinds through which Truth alone survives.
“Awaiting the inevitable reËstablishment of such temporary conventions as render the incident of human existence possible, the brooding Demon which men call Truth stares steadily at Tengri under the high stars which are passing too, and which at last shall pass away and leave the Demon watching all alone amid the ruins of eternity.”
The Prophet of the Kiot Bordjiguen
CONTENTS
Preface. Children of the Star
| CHAPTER | | PAGE |
| I. | The Wonder-Box | 1 |
| II. | Brookhollow | 18 |
| III. | In Embryo | 30 |
| IV. | The Trodden Way | 38 |
| V. | Ex Machina | 47 |
| VI. | The End of Solitude | 60 |
| VII. | Obsession | 71 |
| VIII. | A Change Impends | 80 |
| IX. | Nonresistance | 88 |
| X. | Driving Head-on | 102 |
| XI. | The Breakers | 112 |
| XII. | A Life Line | 122 |
| XIII. | Letters from a Little Girl | 137 |
| XIV. | A Journey Begins | 157 |
| XV. | The Locked House | 162 |
| XVI. | Scheherazade | 180 |
| XVII. | A White Skirt | 193 |
| XVIII. | By Radio | 202 |
| XIX. | The Captain of the Volhynia | 216 |
| XX. | The Drop of Irish | 223 |
| XXI. | Method and Foresight | 239 |
| XXII. | Two Thirteen | 246 |
| XXIII. | On His Way | 253 |
| XXIV. | The Road to Paris | 261 |
| XXV. | Cup and Lip | 280 |
| XXVI. | Rue Soleil d’Or | 290 |
| XXVII. | From Four to Five | 305 |
| XXVIII. | Together | 312 |
| XXIX. | En Famille | 325 |
| XXX. | Jardin Russe | 337 |
| XXXI. | The CafÉ des Bulgars | 347 |
| XXXII. | The Cercle Extranationale | 358 |
| XXXIII. | A Rat Hunt | 377 |
| XXXIV. | Sunrise | 395 |
| XXXV. | The First Day | 410 |
