THE
FRANTIC MASTER
BY
DOUGLAS PULLEYNE
AUTHOR OF "SPRING SORREL"
"And in particular I may mention Sophocles the poet, who was once asked in my presence, 'How do you feel about love, Sophocles? Are you still capable of it?' To which he replied, 'Hush, if you please; to my great delight I have escaped from it, and feel as if I had escaped from a frantic and savage master.'"
The Republic of Plato.
CHAPMAN
AND HALL LD.
LONDON : MCMXXVII
AUTHOR'S NOTE
The incident, in essentials true, of the soldiers in the railway carriage, overheard by "Cyprian," is the seed from which this book grew. To explain his attitude, it is, therefore, included with acknowledgments to that Editor of the "PIONEER" who first recorded it for me. "Shoan and the Mermaid" is also true, as an example of a tale told to the Nicobarese by a traveller, and retold by them, and may be found in Sir Richard Temple's Census Report, preserved to the best of my belief in the Offices of the Chief Commissioner in the Andamans.
I make no apologies to my old friends, Scarecrow, Friend-of-England and others for describing them under their own names, feeling sure that they would expect no evil magic to come of it. To the workers of the Mission at Car Nicobar, one of whom it is well-known spent twelve years in the islands translating the Prayer Book into Nicobarese, I would say that little Jellybrand is only the portrait of a type I have met—of which is the Kingdom of Heaven, and which neither looks for nor will find recognition on earth for much simple heroism.