Charles Rex

by Ethel M. Dell

CHARLES REX

BY ETHEL M. DELL

AUTHOR OF THE TOP OF THE WORLD, THE LAMP IN THE DESERT, THE HUNDREDTH
CHANCE, Etc.

1922

I Dedicate This Book To G. T. S. In Remembrance of A Winter Day

"When half-gods go, the gods arrive."
R. W. Emerson

Not with the clash of trumpets
And clangour of gates thrown wide,
As when the eager crowds press round
To see the half-gods ride;
But like a bird at even
Silently winging home,
A message came from the darkness
To say that the gods had come.

And the half-gods scoffed in the temple
Which custom had bid them hold—
Sin and Success and Pleasure
And the hideous Image of Gold.
Who and what are these strangers?
Bid them worship before the shrine
Where we, the gods of the new world,
Sit o'er the cards and wine!

So they derided the strangers—
Those gods whom the old folk call
Courage and Honour and Faithfulness
And Love which is greater than all.
But when the night was over
And the new day pierced within,
The half-gods were gone from the temple,
And the gods had entered in.