The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Broom-Squire, by S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould

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Title: The Broom-Squire

Author: S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould

Release Date: October 28, 2009 [eBook #30354]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BROOM-SQUIRE***

E-text prepared by Elaine Laizure from digital material generously made available by Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org)

Note: Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See http://www.archive.org/details/broomsquire00baririch

Transcriber's note:

Minor typographical errors in the original text have been corrected. Footnotes have been numbered and moved to the end of the file.

THE BROOM-SQUIRE

by

S. BARING-GOULD

Author of "Mehalah," "Court Royal," "The Gaverocks,"
"Noemi," "Eve," Etc., Etc.

New York and London
Frederick A. Stokes Company
Publishers

Copyright 1895,
By S. Baring-Gould.

Copyright 1896,
By Frederick A. Stokes Company.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE

I. AT THE SIGN OF THE SHIP 1

II. WANDERING SOULS 8

III. THE PUNCH-BOWL 14

IV. WITHOUT A ROOF 22

V. MEHETABEL 28

VI. MEHETABEL IT MUST BE 35

VII. FALSE PERSPECTIVE 41

VIII. ONLY A CHARITY GIRL 48

IX. BIDEABOUT 55

X. INTO THE NET 63

XI. A SURNAME AT LAST 70

XII. UNEXPECTED 77

XIII. HOME 85

XIV. NOT PARADISE 92

XV. IVER 98

XVI. AGAIN IVER 105

XVII. DREAMS 112

XVIII. REALITIES 117

XIX. BACK AGAIN 124

XX. GONE 131

XXI. THOR'S STONE 137

XXII. IVER! COME 144

XXIII. A SHOT 149

XXIV. THE IRONSTONE HAMMER 156

XXV. AN APPARITION 162

XXVI. A SECRET 169

XXVII. POISON 176

XXVIII. A THREAT 182

XXIX. A HERALD OF STRIFE 189

XXX. A BEQUEST 195

XXXI. SURPRISES 203

XXXII. ANOTHER SURPRISE 208

XXXIII. MARKHAM 216

XXXIV. THE PICTURE 222

XXXV. THE ONLY CHANCE 228

XXXVI. THE SLEEPING DRAUGHT 235

XXXVII. A MENACED LIFE 243

XXXVIII. SHUT OUT 249

XXXIX. AT THE SILK MILL 256

XL. BY THE HAMMER POND 262

XLI. WANDERERS 268

XLII. THE CAVE 275

XLIII. AT COLPUS'S 282

XLIV. AGAIN-IRONSTONE 288

XLV. IN HOPE 294

XLVI. A TROUBLED HOPE 300

XLVII. BEFORE THE JUDGE 307

XLVIII. THE VERDICT 314

XLIX. WELCOME 321

L. MOVE ON 327

LI. THOR'S STONE AGAIN 334

LII. THE ROSE-CLOUD 341

THE BROOM-SQUIRE

CHAPTER I.

AT THE SIGN OF THE SHIP.

On a September evening, before the setting of the sun, a man entered the tavern of the Ship in Thursley, with a baby under his arm.

The tavern sign, rudely painted, bore, besides a presentment of a vessel, the inscription on one side of the board:—

  "Now before the hill you climb,
   Come and drink good ale and wine."

On the other side of the board the legend was different. It ran thus:—

  "Now the hill you're safely over,
   Drink, your spirits to recover."

The tavern stood on the high-road side between Godalming and
Portsmouth; that is to say the main artery of communication between
London and Portsmouth.

After rising out of the rich overshadowed weald land, the road had crossed long sandy wastes, where population was sparse, where were no enclosures, no farms, only scattered Scottish firs; and in front rose the stately ridge of sandstone that culminates in Hind Head and Leith Hill. It was to prepare the wayfarer for a scramble to the elevation of a little over nine hundred feet that he was invited to "drink good ale and wine," or, if he were coming from the opposite direction was called upon to congratulate himself in a similar manner on having over-passed this ridge. The wayfarer with the baby under his arm came from the Godalming side. He looked up at the sign, which appealed at once to his heart, for he was obviously a sailor, no less than did the invitation commend itself to his condition.

He entered, tumbled the baby on to the tavern table that was marked with wet rings from beer cans, and upset a