My Young Alcides: A Faded Photograph

by Charlotte M. Yonge

C. M. YONGE.
Nov. 8, 1875.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I. [THE ARGHOUSE INHERITANCE]
CHAPTER II. [THE LION OF NEME HEATH]
CHAPTER III. [THE "DRAGON'S HEAD"]
CHAPTER IV. [THE WRATH OF DIANA]
CHAPTER V. [THE CAPTURE IN THE SNOW]
CHAPTER VI. [OGDEN'S BUILDINGS]
CHAPTER VII. [THE BIRDS OF ILL OMEN]
CHAPTER VIII. [BULLOCK'S CHASTISEMENT]
CHAPTER IX. [THE CHAMPION'S BELT]
CHAPTER X. [DERMOT'S MARK]
CHAPTER XI. [THE RED VALLEY CATTLE STEALERS]
CHAPTER XII. [THE GOLDEN FRUIT]
CHAPTER XIII. [THE BLOODHOUND]
CHAPTER XIV. [SUNSET GOLD AND PURPLE]
CHAPTER XV. [THE FATAL TOKEN]
CHAPTER XVI. [CONCLUSION]

MY YOUNG ALCIDES

A FADED PHOTOGRAPH

CHAPTER I.

THE ARGHOUSE INHERITANCE.

One of the children brought me a photograph album, long ago finished and closed, and showed me a faded and blurred figure over which there had been a little dispute. Was it Hercules with club and lion-skin, or was it a gentleman I had known?

Ah me! how soon a man's place knoweth him no more! What fresh recollections that majestic form awoke in me—the massive features, with the steadfast eye, and low, square brow, curled over with short rings of hair; the mouth, that, through the thick, short beard, still invited trust and reliance, even while there was a look of fire and determination that inspired dread.