BY ETHEL M. DELL
The Way of an Eagle
The Knave of Diamonds
The Rocks of Valpré
The Swindler, and Other Stories
The Keeper of the Door
Bars of Iron
The Hundredth Chance
The Safety Curtain, and Other Stories
Greatheart
The Lamp in the Desert
The Tidal Wave
The Top of the World
The Obstacle Race
The Odds and Other Stories
Charles Rex
Tetherstones
By
Ethel M. Dell
Author of “The Way of an Eagle,” “Charles Rex,” etc.
The Ryerson Press
| Toronto | 1923 | Canada |
Copyright, 1923
by
G. P. Putnam’s Sons
Made in the United States of America
I Dedicate This Book
TO VIOLET
The Dear Friend Who Always Stands By
As A Token of
My Ever-Loving Gratitude
For All She Has Done For Me
The lonely circle on the hill
Where mist-wreaths float and rise
Hither and thither, lingering still,
Like smoke of sacrifice—
Forgotten fires, forgotten rites,
Forgotten agonies.
The heaven-blue flowers bloom below
About the grim stone’s foot,
The sweet hare-bells that always grow
Where nought else e’er takes root.
Of all that stony wilderness,
The only fruit.
A presence in the moonlit night
Unseen doth ever brood,
As though it kept in silent sight
The stones rough-hewn and rude;
The shrine of which it was the god,—
The moorland solitude.
And never shall that vigil tire,
And never the great spell pass,
Where the Druids built their altar-fire
Over the dew-drenched grass,
Till the last loud trump shall shatter
The gates of brass.
And then forgotten priests shall wake
And forgotten victims rise,
And the old grey stones of the circle shake
In the place of sacrifice. . . .
But the heaven-blue flowers will bloom for aye
As flowers of Paradise.
CONTENTS
| PART I | |
| I.— | [The Machine] |
| II.— | [The Breakdown] |
| III.— | [A Business Proposition] |
| IV.— | [The Accuser] |
| V.— | [The Holiday] |
| VI.— | [The Capture] |
| VII.— | [Roger] |
| VIII.— | [The Road to Nowhere] |
| IX.— | [The Lions’ Den] |
| PART II | |
| I.— | [The Strangers] |
| II.— | [Roger’s Master] |
| III.— | [The Beast] |
| IV.— | [Rebels] |
| V.— | [Mr. Dermot] |
| VI.— | [Maggie] |
| VII.— | [The Path Through the Wilderness] |
| VIII.— | [The Stones] |
| IX.— | [The Letter] |
| X.— | [Revelation] |
| XI.— | [Failure] |
| XII.— | [The Fires of Hell] |
| XIII.— | [Escape] |
| PART III | |
| I.— | [The Victim] |
| II.— | [The Bargain] |
| III.— | [The Turn of the Tide] |
| IV.— | [Ruth] |
| V.— | [The Exile] |
| VI.— | [The Chain] |
| VII.— | [The Message] |
| VIII.— | [The Miracle] |
| IX.— | [The Invalid] |
| X.— | [The Woman’s Right] |
| XI.— | [The Perfect Gift] |
| XII.— | [The Parting] |
| PART IV | |
| I.— | [The Land of Exile] |
| II.— | [The Nightmare] |
| III.— | [The Awakening] |
| IV.— | [The Victory] |
| V.— | [The Vision] |
| VI.— | [The Inquisitor] |
| VII.— | [Fair Play] |
| VIII.— | [The Place of Sacrifice] |
| IX.— | [Where the Giant Hare-bells Grow] |
Tetherstones