The Return of Peter Grimm Novelised From the Play   By: David Belasco (1853-1931)

NOVELISED FROM THE PLAY BY DAVID BELASCO

ILLUSTRATIONS BY JOHN RAE

NEW YORK GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS

COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I A MAN AND A MAID 3

II THE HEIR 19

III PETER GRIMM HAS A PLAN 37

IV A WARNING AND A THEORY 56

V A QUEER COMPACT 77

VI BREAKING THE NEWS 99

VII THE HAND RELAXES 108

VIII AFTERWARD 118

IX THE EVE OF A WEDDING 125

X A WASTED PLEA 134

XI THE LEGACIES 149

XII MOSTLY CONCERNING GRATITUDE 157

XIII THE RETURN 164

XIV "I CAN'T GET IT ACROSS" 184

XV A HALF HEARD MESSAGE 209

XVI THE "SENSITIVE" 231

XVII MR. BATHOLOMMEY TESTIFIES 254

XVIII DR. MCPHERSON'S STATEMENT 265

XIX BACK TO THE STORY 278

XX THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT 290

XXI "ONLY ONE THING REALLY COUNTS" 302

XXII "ALL THAT HAPPENS, HAPPENS AGAIN" 313

XXIII THE DAWNING 324

XXIV THE GOOD BYE 337

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

"I believe," said Peter irrelevantly, "that St. Paul was a single man, was he not, Pastor?" 86

"Who's in the room!" he demanded 202

"Sleep well," said Peter Grimm. "I wish you the very pleasantest of dreams a boy could have in this world" 321

CHAPTER I

A MAN AND A MAID

The train drew to a halt at the Junction. There was a fine jolt that ran the length of the cars, followed by a clank of couplings and a half intelligible call from the conductor.

The passengers, dusty, jaded, crossly annoyed at the need of changing cars, gathered up their luggage and filed out onto the bare, roofless station platform. There, after a look down the long converging rails in vain hope of sighting the train they were to take, they fell to glancing about the cheerless station environs.

Far away were rolling hills, upland fields of wind swept wheat, cool, dark stretches of woodland. But around the station were areas of ill kept lots, with here and there a jerry built cottage, sadly in need of shoring, and bereft of paint. Across the road on one side stood the general store with its clump of porch step loafers and its windows full of gaudy advertisements. To the side, and parallel with the tracks, sprawled a huge, weather buffeted signboard that read:

" Grimm's Botanical Gardens and Nurseries. 1 Mile. "

The passengers eyed the half defaced lettering, pessimistically. But almost at once they received a far pleasanter reminder of the botanical gardens. A boy, flushed with running, and evidently distressed at being late, pattered up the road and onto the platform. From one of his fragile arms hung a great basket. The lid had fallen aside and showed the basket piled to the brim with fresh flowers.

Hurrying to the nearest passenger an obese travelling man who mopped a very red face, the boy timidly held a Gloire de Dijon rose up to him and recited with parrot like glibness: