Fate Knocks at the Door A Novel   By: Will Levington Comfort (1878-1932)

A Novel

By

Will Levington Comfort

Author of

"Routledge Rides Alone," "She Buildeth Her House," etc.

1912

In speaking of the first four notes of the opening movement, Beethoven said, some time after he had finished the Fifth Symphony: "So pocht das Shicksal an die Pforte" ("Thus Fate Knocks at the Door"); and between that opening knock, and the tremendous rush and sweep of the Finale, the emotions which come into play in the great conflicts of life are depicted.

From Upton's Standard Symphonies .

To

THE MOTHERS OF MEN

Contents

I. ASIA. ( Allegro con brio .)

First Chapter: The Great Wind Strikes Second Chapter: The Pack Train in Luzon Third Chapter: Red Pigment of Service Fourth Chapter: That Adelaide Passion Fifth Chapter: A Flock of Flying Swans Sixth Chapter: That Island Somewhere Seventh Chapter: Andante con Moto Fifth Eighth Chapter: The Man from The Pleiad

II. NEW YORK. ( Andante con moto .)

Ninth Chapter: The Long Awaited Woman Tenth Chapter: The Jews and the Romans Eleventh Chapter: Two Davids Come to Beth Twelfth Chapter: Two Lesser Adventures Thirteenth Chapter: About Shadowy Sisters Fourteenth Chapter: This Clay and Paint Age Fifteenth Chapter: The Story of the Mother Sixteenth Chapter: "Through Desire for Her." Seventeenth Chapter: The Plan of the Builder Eighteenth Chapter: That Park Predicament Nineteenth Chapter: In the House of Grey One Twentieth Chapter: A Chemistry of Scandal Twenty first Chapter: The Singing Distances Twenty second Chapter: Beth Signs the Picture Twenty third Chapter: The Last Ride Together Twenty fourth Chapter: A Parable of Two Horses

III. EQUATORIA. ( Allegro. Scherzo .)

Twenty fifth Chapter: Bedient for The Pleiad Twenty sixth Chapter: How Startling is Truth Twenty seventh Chapter: The Art of Miss Mallory Twenty eighth Chapter: A Further Note from Rey Twenty ninth Chapter: At Treasure Island Inn Thirtieth Chapter: Miss Mallory's Mastery Thirty first Chapter: The Glow worm's One Hour Thirty second Chapter: In the Little Room Next Thirty third Chapter: The Hills and the Skies Thirty fourth Chapter: The Supreme Adventure Thirty fifth Chapter: Fate Knocks at the Door

IV. NEW YORK. ( Allegro. Finale .)

Thirty sixth Chapter: The Great Prince House Thirty seventh Chapter: Beth and Adith Mallory Thirty eighth Chapter: A Self Conscious Woman Thirty ninth Chapter: Another Smilax Affair Fortieth Chapter: Full Day Upon the Plain

FATE KNOCKS AT THE DOOR

I

ASIA

Allegro con brio

FIRST CHAPTER

THE GREAT WIND STRIKES

Andrew Bedient, at the age of seventeen, in a single afternoon, indeed, in one moment of a single afternoon, performed an action which brought him financial abundance for his mature years. Although this narrative less concerns the boy Bedient than the man as he approaches twice seventeen, the action is worthy of account, beyond the riches that it brought, because it seems to draw him into somewhat clearer vision from the shadows of a very strange boyhood.

April, 1895, the Truxton , of which Andrew was cook, found herself becalmed in the China Sea, midway between Manila and Hong Kong, her nose to the North. She was a smart clipper of sixty tons burden, with a slightly uptilted stern, and as clever a line forward as a pleasure yacht. She was English, comparatively new, and, properly used by the weather, was as swift and sprightly of service as an affectionate woman. Her master was Captain Carreras, a tubby little man of forty five, bald, modest, and known among the shipping as "a perfect lady." He wore a skull cap out of port; and as constantly, except during meals, carried one of a set of rarely colored meerschaum bowls, to which were attachable, bamboo stems, amber tipped and of various lengths.