Canada.
| CONTENTS | ||
| PAGE | ||
| “V. Lydiat” | [3] | |
| The Sea of Lilies | [41] | |
| The Bride of a God | [61] | |
| The Beloved of the Gods | [89] | |
| The Hidden One | [107] | |
| The Marriage of the Princess | [143] | |
| The Wisdom of the Orient | [167] | |
| Stately Julia | [185] | |
| The Island of Pearls | [215] | |
| The Wonderful Pilgrimage to Amarnath | [253] | |
| The Man Without a Sword | [281] | |
“V. LYDIAT”
“V. LYDIAT”
She sat and looked at the signature written under the name of the story in readiness for typing.
“THE NINEFOLD FLOWER.”
It was a fine story, she knew, and the signature satisfied her also as it always did. V. is the most beautiful letter in the alphabet to write and look at, the ends curving over from the slender base like the uprush of a fountain from its tense spring. When she “commenced author,” as the eighteenth century puts it, she devoted days and days to the consideration of that pen-name. For several reasons it must not reveal identity. Most women prefer the highwayman’s mask when they ride abroad to hold up the public. It gives a freedom impossible when one is tethered to the responsibilities of name and family. One becomes a foundling in the great city of Literature and the pebble-cold eye of human relationship passes unaware over what would have stung it into anger or jealousy if it had held the key of the mystery. That is, if the secret is guarded as carefully as V. Lydiat’s.
But, for all I know, her strange reason for secrecy may never in this world have swayed man or woman before.