The Dark Star   By: Robert W. Chambers (1865-1933)

[Illustration: "My darling Rue my little Rue Carew "]

THE DARK STAR

By ROBERT W. CHAMBERS

Author of "The Girl Philippa," "Who Goes There," "The Hidden Children," Etc.

[Illustration]

WITH FRONTISPIECE

By W. D. STEVENS

A. L. BURT COMPANY

Publishers New York

Published by Arrangement with D. Appleton & Company

Copyright, 1917, by

ROBERT W. CHAMBERS

Copyright, 1916, 1917, by the International Magazine Company

Printed in the United States of America

TO MY FRIEND EDGAR SISSON

Dans c'métier là, faut rien chercher à comprendre. RENÉ BENJAMIN

ALAK'S SONG

Where are you going, Naïa? Through the still noon Where are you going?

To hear the thunder of the sea And the wind blowing! To find a stormy moon to comfort me Across the dune!

Why are you weeping, Naïa? Through the still noon Why are you weeping?

Because I found no wind, no sea, No white surf leaping, Nor any flying moon to comfort me Upon the dune.

What did you see there, Naïa? In the still noon What did you see there?

Only the parched world drowsed in drought, And a fat bee, there, Prying and probing at a poppy's mouth That drooped a swoon.

What did you hear there, Naïa? In the still noon What did you hear there?

Only a kestrel's lonely cry From the wood near there A rustle in the wheat as I passed by A cricket's rune.

Who led you homeward, Naïa? Through the still noon Who led you homeward?

My soul within me sought the sea, Leading me foam ward: But the lost moon's ghost returned with me Through the high noon.

Where is your soul then, Naïa? Lost at high noon Where is your soul then?

It wanders East or West I think Or near the Pole, then Or died perhaps there on the dune's dry brink Seeking the moon.

THE DARK STAR

"The dying star grew dark; the last light faded from it; went out. Prince Erlik laughed.

"And suddenly the old order of things began to pass away more swiftly.

"Between earth and outer space between Creator and created, confusing and confounding their identities, a rushing darkness grew the hurrying wrack of immemorial storms heralding whirlwinds through which Truth alone survives.

"Awaiting the inevitable reëstablishment of such temporary conventions as render the incident of human existence possible, the brooding Demon which men call Truth stares steadily at Tengri under the high stars which are passing too, and which at last shall pass away and leave the Demon watching all alone amid the ruins of eternity."

The Prophet of the Kiot Bordjiguen

CONTENTS

Preface. Children of the Star

CHAPTER PAGE

I. The Wonder Box 1

II. Brookhollow 18

III. In Embryo 30

IV. The Trodden Way 38

V. Ex Machina 47

VI. The End of Solitude 60

VII. Obsession 71

VIII. A Change Impends 80

IX. Nonresistance 88

X. Driving Head on 102

XI. The Breakers 112

XII. A Life Line 122

XIII. Letters from a Little Girl 137