Set up and electrotyped.
Published September, 1925.
Reprinted September 22, 1925.
Reprinted November, 1925.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY
THE CORNWALL PRESS
CONTENTS
| [BOOK THE FIRST] | |
|---|---|
| The Coming of Sargon, King of Kings | |
| PAGE | |
| CHAPTER THE FIRST | |
| THE EARLY LIFE OF MR. PREEMBY | [ 11] |
| CHAPTER THE SECOND | |
| CHRISTINA ALBERTA | [ 28] |
| CHAPTER THE THIRD | |
| IN LONSDALE MEWS | [ 50] |
| CHAPTER THE FOURTH | |
| THE PETUNIA BOARDING HOUSE | [ 85] |
| CHAPTER THE FIFTH | |
| THE SCALES FALL FROM MR. PREEMBY’S EYES | [ 114] |
| CHAPTER THE SIXTH | |
| CHRISTINA ALBERTA CONSULTS A WISE MAN | [ 132] |
| [BOOK THE SECOND] | |
| The World Rejects Sargon, King of Kings | |
| CHAPTER THE FIRST | |
| INCOGNITO | [ 163] |
| CHAPTER THE SECOND | |
| THE CALLING OF THE DISCIPLES | [ 195] |
| CHAPTER THE THIRD | |
| THE JOURNEY OF SARGON UNDERNEATH THE WORLD | [ 218] |
| [BOOK THE THIRD] | |
| The Resurrection of Sargon, King of Kings | |
| CHAPTER THE FIRST | |
| CHRISTINA ALBERTA IN SEARCH OF A FATHER | [ 245] |
| CHAPTER THE SECOND | |
| HOW BOBBY STOLE A LUNATIC | [ 300] |
| CHAPTER THE THIRD | |
| THE LAST PHASE | [ 343] |
| CHAPTER THE FOURTH | |
| MAY AT UDIMORE | [ 369] |
CHRISTINA ALBERTA’S FATHER
BOOK THE FIRST
THE COMING OF SARGON, KING
OF KINGS
CHAPTER THE FIRST
The Early Life of Mr. Preemby
§ 1
THIS is the story of a certain Mr. Preemby, a retired laundryman and widower, who abandoned his active interest in the Limpid Stream Laundry, in the parish of Saint Simon Unawares, near Woodford Wells, upon the death of his wife in the year of grace 1920. Some very remarkable experiences came to him. The story is essentially a contemporary story: it is a story of London in the age of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, broadcasting, and the first Labour peers. The historical element in it is insignificant and partly erroneous, and the future, though implicitly present, is substantially ignored.
Since washing in London, like the milk trade and baking and the linen drapery and various other branches of commerce, is something rather specialized and hereditary and a little difficult towards outsiders, it is necessary to explain that Mr. Preemby was not a laundryman born. He had little of the spirit and go of a true London laundryman. He married into laundrying. He met a Miss Hossett at Sheringham in 1899, an heiress and a young lady of great decision of character; he wooed and won her and married her, as you will be told, almost without realizing what he was doing. The Hossetts are big people in the laundry world, and the Limpid Stream concern, which presently fell into the capable hands of Mrs. Preemby, was only one of a series of related and sympathetic businesses in the north, north-east and south-west districts of London.