A Fatal Kiss
And then, little by little, the night gradually came to an end. And the sun rose up, out of his home in the eastern mountain, and began rapidly to climb into the sky.
And all at once, there arose a great hubbub, and an outcry in the King's palace. And the women ran hither and thither, wailing and screaming and crying out: Haha! haha! the daughter of the King is gone. And they hunted in all directions, but could not find her anywhere: and they went and told the King. But he, when he heard it, came running just as he was in his night clothes, and hurried about with all the women, looking into every corner, and finding nothing. So after turning the palace upside down, he stopped short. And he said: What if she should have followed her lover up on to the city wall, and shared his fate! For beyond a doubt, like all his predecessors, he has vanished never to return.
Then they all went up the winding stair, the King going first. And he stepped out on to the wall. And instantly, with a piercing cry, he fell to the ground in a mortal swoon.
Then terror seized on all those women, and they stood exactly where they were, looking at each other with pale faces, not daring to advance. But at last, after a long while, supporting each the other, they pushed forward and looked out. And they saw the King's body, lying on that of his daughter; and a little further off, Aja, lying upon his face.
Then they went out, and took up those three bodies, and carried them in, and examined them. And after a while, they said: Doubtless the heart of the old King broke, when he saw his daughter lying dead. But as for the other two, one snake has evidently bitten both. And yet, this is a wonderful thing. For she has been bitten on the foot, but her lover upon the lips. What then? Was he trying to kiss the snake, that it should bite him upon the lips? For how could even the biggest snake reach up so high, as this great Rajpoot's mouth?
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A Selection from the
Catalogue of
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
Complete Catalogue sent
on application
Books by F. W. Bain
Translated from Original Manuscripts
A Digit of the Moon
And Other Love Stories from the Hindu
Crown 8vo. Illustrated. Net, $1.50
A Draught of the Blue
together with
An Essence of the Dusk
Crown 8vo. Illustrated. Net, $1.50
An Incarnation of the Snow
Crown 8vo. Illustrated. Net, $1.25
A Mine of Faults
Crown 8vo. Illustrated. Net, $1.25
The Ashes of a God
"Mr. Bain's stories are full of wistfulness and beauty. There is a tenderness, a richness of color, a warmth of passion, and an elemental understanding of men and women.... They seem to me to place Mr. Bain on an eminence isolated and unique.... No words that I can write can fittingly express the fascination of these books."—Mr. E. V. Lucas in the London Bookman.
"Charming love stories that will be absolutely novel to most readers. They are delicate, vivid, and told in beautiful English. They show Hindu life and thought in the true light, a thing worth doing in view of the mushy mysticisms and theosophical gibbering that have obscured it in this country."—N. Y. Sun.
*****
"Reading this book is like breathing strong refreshing air."—N. Y. Evening Sun.
Bawbee Jock
By Amy McLaren
Author of "The Yoke of Silence," etc.
"Amid delightful Highland scenes and charming Highland people a very pretty love duet is sung in Bawbee Jock.... A refreshing contrast to most novels written nowadays."—New York Sun.
"One of the most delightful love stories of the year, as fresh as the breath of heather on the Scottish hills."—Columbus Journal.
"Idealistic? Very. In a way that makes one glad that stories such as it still appear."—Chicago Inter-Ocean.
Fifth Impression. $1.35 net. By mail, $1.50
*****
The Most Popular Books in the
United States
By Florence L. Barclay
Over 350 Thousand Sold
The Rosary
Popular Edition. Cr. 8vo. $1.35 net. ($1.80 by mall.) Holiday Edition, with Illustrations in Color by Blendon Campbell, and Decorations and Cover Design by Margaret Armstrong. Handsomely printed and bound. Uniform with the Holiday Edition of "The Mistress of Shenstone." 8vo. $2.50 net.
"An ideal love story—one that justifies the publishing business, refreshes the heart of the reviewer, strengthens faith in the outcome of the great experiment of putting humanity on earth. The Rosary is a rare book, a source of genuine delight."—Syracuse Post-Standard.
Over 550 Thousand Sold
The Mistress of Shenstone
Popular Edition. Cr. 8vo, $1.35 net. ($1.50 by mail.) Holiday Edition, with 8 illustrations in Color by F. H. Townsend, and Decorations and Cover Design by Margaret Armstrong. Handsomely printed and bound. Uniform with the Holiday Edition of "The Rosary." 8vo. $2.50 net.
"An optimistic novel of true love, related with sincerity.... A worthy successor to The Rosary."—Phila. Press.
First Printing 90 Thousand Copies
The Following of the Star
With Frontispiece by F. H. Townsend. Cr. 8vo.
$1.35 net. ($1.50 by mail)
A beautiful Christmas love story, instinct with the same depth of feeling, glowing imagery, and refinement of literary art as "The Rosary," and is told with all the power and sweetness which won for Mrs. Barclay's earlier books their place in the front rank of recent fiction.
*****
By the author of "The Country House"
FRATERNITY
BY JOHN GALSWORTHY
Author of "THE MAN OF PROPERTY," "VILLA
RUBEIN," ETC.
"The foundation of Mr. Galsworthy's talent, it seems to me, lies in a remarkable power of ironic insight combined with an extremely keen and faithful eye for all the phenomena, on the surface of the life he observes. These are the purveyors of his imagination, whose servant is a style clear, direct, sane, illumined by a perfectly unaffected sincerity. It is the style of a man whose sympathy with mankind is too genuine to allow him the smallest gratification of his vanity at the cost of his fellow creatures, ... sufficiently pointed to carry deep his remorseless irony, and grave enough to be the dignified vehicle of his profound compassion. Its sustained harmony is never interrupted by those bursts of cymbals and fifes which some deaf people acclaim for brilliance. Mr. Galsworthy will never be found futile by anyone and never uninteresting by the most exacting."
MR. JOSEPH CONRAD in The Outlook.
Crown 8vo. Fixed price, $1.35 net. (By mail $1.50)
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
NEW YORK LONDON
*****
By F. W. BAIN
Translated from the Original Manuscripts
A Digit of the Moon
And Other Love Stories from the Hindu
A Draught of the Blue
together with
An Essence of the Dusk
An Incarnation of the Snow
A Mine of Faults
The Ashes of a God