THE ANCIENT LAW

BY
THE SAME AUTHOR
THE WHEEL OF LIFE
THE DELIVERANCE
THE BATTLE-GROUND
THE FREEMAN, AND OTHER POEMS
THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
PHASES OF AN INFERIOR PLANET
THE DESCENDANT

Copyright, 1908, by
Doubleday, Page & Company
Published, January, 1908
All Rights Reserved
Including that of Translation into Foreign Languages
Including the Scandinavian

TO
MY GOOD FRIEND EFFENDI

CONTENTS

[Book First—The New Life]
CHAPTER PAGE
[I.]The Road [3]
[II.]The Night[15]
[III.]The Return to Tappahannock[31]
[IV.]The Dream of Daniel Smith[42]
[V.]At Tappahannock[54]
[VI.]The Pretty Daughter of the Mayor[62]
[VII.]Shows the Graces of Adversity[72]
[VIII.]"Ten Commandment Smith"[90]
[IX.]The Old and the New[101]
[X.]His Neighbour's Garden[111]
[XI.]Bullfinch's Hollow[123]
[XII.]A String of Coral[135]
[Book Second—The Day of Reckoning]
[I.]In Which a Stranger Appears[147]
[II.]Ordway Compromises With the Past[162]
[III.]A Change of Lodging[174]
[IV.]Shows That a Laugh Does not Heal a Heartache[185]
[V.]Treats of a Great Passion in a Simple Soul[196]
[VI.]In Which Baxter Plots[209]
[VII.]Shows That Politeness, Like Charity, Is an Elastic Mantle[222]
[VIII.]The Turn of the Wheel[234]
[IX.]At the Cross-roads[248]
[X.]Between Man and Man[256]
[XI.]Between Man and Woman[268]
[Book Third—The Larger Prison]
[I.]The Return to Life[281]
[II.]His Own Place[290]
[III.]The Outward Pattern[303]
[IV.]The Letter and the Spirit[317]
[V.]The Will of Alice[329]
[VI.]The Iron Bars[341]
[VII.]The Vision and the Fact[353]
[VIII.]The Weakness in Strength[363]
[Book Fourth—Liberation]
[I.]The Inward Light[379]
[II.]At Tappahannock Again[392]
[III.]Alice's Marriage[409]
[IV.]The Power of the Blood[420]
[V.]The House of Dreams[434]
[VI.]The Ultimate Choice[443]
[VII.]Flight[454]
[VIII.]The End of the Road[469]
[IX.]The Light Beyond[482]