Nicanor - Teller of Tales A Story of Roman Britain   By: C. Bryson Taylor (1880-)

[Illustration: "In a physical ecstasy he spoke out that which clamored at his lips." (Page 44)]

NICANOR TELLER OF TALES

A Story Of Roman Britain

By C. BRYSON TAYLOR

Author Of "In The Dwellings Of The Wilderness"

Having Pictures and Designs by Troy and Margaret West Kinney

Chicago A. C. Mcclurg & Co. 1906

Copyright A. C. McCLURG & CO. 1906 Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, England All rights reserved

Published April 28, 1906

Typography by The University Press, Cambridge, U.S.A. Presswork by The Lakeside Press, Chicago, U.S.A.

C. H. B.

To you, whose love did come And oft did sing to me, When I was working in the furrows.

CONTENTS

BOOK I PAGE

THE MANTLE OF MELCHIOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

BOOK II

THE GARDEN OF DREAMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

BOOK III

PAWNS AND PLAYERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

BOOK IV

THE LORD'S DAUGHTER AND THE ONE WHO WENT IN CHAINS . . . . . . . 207

BOOK V

THE NIGHT AND THE DAWNING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

ILLUSTRATIONS Page

"In a physical ecstasy he spoke out that which clamored on his lips" [Page 44] Frontispiece

"'Were I that woman, I should have wanted to love him'" [Page 85] 72

"'You sent for me, Lady Varia?'" [Page 152] 176

"Half a dozen young beauties had taken possession, girls of the haughtiest blood in Britain" [Page 240] 254

"The sight burst upon him in all its hideousness where had been the stately mansion of his lord" [Page 344] 364

CHARACTERS

EUDEMIUS, a Roman lord living in Britain

VARIA, his daughter

LIVINIUS, a Roman citizen, a boyhood friend of Eudemius

MARIUS, his son, of the Roman legions in Gaul

MARCUS SILENUS POMPONIUS, Count of the Saxon Shore } AURELIUS MENOTUS, duumvir of Anderida } Guests of FELIX, his son } Eudemius CAIUS JULIUS VALENS, a Roman citizen }

JULIA } NIGIDIA } Roman girls, daughters of the PAULA } guests of Eudemius GRATIA }

NERISSA, nurse to Varia

HITO, master of the household of Eudemius

CHLORIS, of all nations, living upon Thorney

SADA, a Saxon } inmates of her house EUNICE, a Greek }

ELDRIS, a Briton, a convert to Christianity

WARDO, a Saxon, a slave in the house of Eudemius

VALERIUS, a Roman, a soldier of fortune

TOBIAS, a Hebrew, a worker in ivory

RATHUMUS, a British peasant, bound to the soil

SUSANNA, a Hebrew woman, his wife

NICANOR, a story teller, their son

WULF, the Red, a Saxon free lance

CEAWLIN, a Saxon chieftain

FATHER AMBROSE, of the Christian church

NICODEMUS, the One Eyed, a British freedman

MYLEIA, his wife

MARCUS, a slave in the house of Eudemius

BALBUS, a convict

JUNCINA, a fish wife on Thorney

SOSIA, her daughter

A flower girl, a Saxon singer, slaves, trades folk, soldiers of the military police; guards and overseers of the mines, and miners; Roman nobles and patrician women; Saxon men at arms, and men of the outland nations

Scene: Britain in the last days of Roman power Time: between A.D. 410 and 446

LIST OF TOWNS AND RIVERS

WITH THEIR MODERN SITES AND NAMES