The Pagan's Cup

Оглавление

Hume Fergus. The Pagan's Cup

CHAPTER I. A MODERN ARCADIA

CHAPTER II. THE CRUSADERS' CHAPEL

CHAPTER III. THE LADY OF THE MANOR

CHAPTER IV. THE DINNER-PARTY

CHAPTER V. LOVE'S YOUNG DREAM

CHAPTER VI. TROUBLE

CHAPTER VII. A NINE DAYS' WONDER

CHAPTER VIII. HAVERLEIGH'S DEFENCE

CHAPTER IX. A BAD REPUTATION

CHAPTER X. THE PRICE OF SILENCE

CHAPTER XI. THE LONDON DETECTIVE

CHAPTER XII. A SURPRISE

CHAPTER XIII. AN INTERESTING DOCUMENT

CHAPTER XIV. AN UNEXPECTED MEETING

CHAPTER XV. A NEW COMPLICATION

CHAPTER XVI. SYBIL'S VISITOR

CHAPTER XVII. LORD KILSPINDIE EXPLAINS

CHAPTER XVIII. A MIRACLE

CHAPTER XIX. A STORY OF THE PAST

CHAPTER XX. MRS GABRIEL'S SECRET

Отрывок из книги

The church dedicated to St Gabriel the Messenger was enshrined in a leafy glade. No churlish wall marked the limits of the sacred ground, and from the ancient building a soft green sward stretched on all sides to the circle of oaks which sheltered it from the rude winds. In this circle were two openings counter to each other. The lower one admitted those who came from Colester into the precincts; the upper gave entrance to a larger glade, in which the dead had been buried for centuries. This also was without a wall, and it was strange beyond words to come suddenly upon an assemblage of tombstones in the heart of a wood. From this sylvan God's-acre a path climbed upward to the moor, and passed onward for some little distance until it was obliterated by the purple heather. Then for leagues stretched the trackless, treeless waste to the foot of distant hills.

Of no great size, the chapel was an architectural gem. Built in the form of a cross, a square tower rose where the four arms met, and this contained a famous peal of bells. The grey stone walls were carved with strange and holy devices, lettered with sacred texts in mediæval Latin, and here and there were draped in darkly-green ivy. The sharp angles of the building had been rounded by the weather, the stones were mellowed by time, and, nestling under the great boughs of the oaks, it had a holy, restful look. "Like a prayer made visible," said Mr Tempest.

.....

"I'm friendly with them now," said Pratt, dryly, "it is they who hold off."

"We are slow to make friendships here," said Raston, "but when we do accept a friend we stick to him always."

.....