THE JUDGMENT HOUSE

by

Gilbert Parker

CONTENTS

I [THE JASMINE FLOWER]
II [THE UNDERGROUND WORLD]
III [A DAUGHTER OF TYRE]
IV [THE PARTNERS MEET]
V [A WOMAN TELLS HER STORY]
VI [WITHIN THE POWER-HOUSE]
VII [THREE YEARS LATER]
VIII ["HE SHALL NOT TREAT ME SO"]
IX [THE APPIAN WAY]
X [AN ARROW FINDS A BREAST]
XI [IN WALES, WHERE JIGGER PLAYS HIS PART]
XII [THE KEY IN THE LOCK]
XIII ["I WILL NOT SING"]
XIV [THE BAAS]
XV [THE WORLD WELL LOST]
XVI [THE COMING OF THE BAAS]
XVII [IS THERE NO HELP FOR THESE THINGS?]
XVIII [LANDRASSY'S LAST STROKE]
XIX [TO-MORROW . . . PREPARE!]
XX [THE FURNACE DOOR]
XXI [THE BURNING FIERY FURNACE]
XXII [IN WHICH FELLOWES GOES A JOURNEY]
XXIII ["MORE WAS LOST AT MOHACKSFIELD"]
XXIV [ONE WHO CAME SEARCHING]
XXV [WHEREIN THE LOST IS FOUND]
XXVI [JASMINE'S LETTER]
XXVII [KROOL]
XXVIII ["THE BATTLE CRY OF FREEDOM"]
XXIX [THE MENACE OF THE MOUNTAIN]
XXX ["AND NEVER THE TWAIN SHALL MEET!"]
XXXI [THE GREY HORSE AND ITS RIDER]
XXXII [THE WORLD'S FOUNDLING]
XXXIII ["ALAMACHTIG!"]
XXXIV ["THE ALPINE FELLOW"]
XXXV [AT BRINKWORT'S FARM]
XXXVI [SPRINGS OF HEALING]
XXXVII [UNDER THE GUN]
XXXVIII ["PHEIDIPPIDES"]
XXXIX ["THE ROAD IS CLEAR"]

NOTE

Except where references to characters well-known to all the world occur in these pages, this book does not present a picture of public or private individuals living or dead. It is not in any sense a historical novel. It is in conception and portraiture a work of the imagination.

"Strangers come to the outer wall—
(Why do the sleepers stir?)
Strangers enter the Judgment House—
(Why do the sleepers sigh?)
Slow they rise in their judgment seats,
Sieve and measure the naked souls,
Then with a blessing return to sleep.
(Quiet the Judgment House.)
Lone and sick are the vagrant souls—
(When shall the world come home?)"

"Let them fight it out, friend! things have gone too far,
God must judge the couple: leave them as they are—
Whichever one's the guiltless, to his glory,
And whichever one the guilt's with, to my story!

"Once more. Will the wronger, at this last of all,
Dare to say, 'I did wrong,' rising in his fall?
No? Let go, then! Both the fighters to their places!
While I count three, step you back as many paces!"