The Wonder   By: John D. Beresford (1873-1947)

BY J. D. BERESFORD

THESE LYNNEKERS THE EARLY HISTORY OF JACOB STAHL A CANDIDATE FOR TRUTH THE INVISIBLE EVENT THE HOUSE IN DEMETRIUS ROAD

GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY NEW YORK

THE WONDER

BY

J. D. BERESFORD AUTHOR OF "THESE LYNNEKERS," "THE STORY OF JACOB STAHL," ETC.

[Device]

NEW YORK GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY

COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Transcriber's Note:

Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Dialect and variant spellings have been retained. Greek text has been transliterated and is shown between {braces}.

TO MY FRIEND AND CRITIC HUGH WALPOLE

CONTENTS

PART ONE

MY EARLY ASSOCIATIONS WITH GINGER STOTT

CHAPTER PAGE I. THE MOTIVE 11

II. NOTES FOR A BIOGRAPHY OF GINGER STOTT 22

III. THE DISILLUSIONMENT OF GINGER STOTT 58

PART TWO

THE CHILDHOOD OF THE WONDER

IV. THE MANNER OF HIS BIRTH 71

V. HIS DEPARTURE FROM STOKE UNDERHILL 92

VI. HIS FATHER'S DESERTION 107

VII. HIS DEBT TO HENRY CHALLIS 118

VIII. HIS FIRST VISIT TO CHALLIS COURT 143

INTERLUDE 149

THE WONDER AMONG BOOKS

IX. HIS PASSAGE THROUGH THE PRISON OF KNOWLEDGE 155

X. HIS PASTORS AND MASTERS 179

XI. HIS EXAMINATION 193

XII. HIS INTERVIEW WITH HERR GROSSMANN 217

XIII. FUGITIVE 229

PART THREE

MY ASSOCIATION WITH THE WONDER

XIV. HOW I WENT TO PYM TO WRITE A BOOK 235

XV. THE INCIPIENCE OF MY SUBJECTION TO THE WONDER 247

XVI. THE PROGRESS AND RELAXATION OF MY SUBJECTION 267

XVII. RELEASE 284

XVIII. IMPLICATIONS 299

XIX. EPILOGUE: THE USES OF MYSTERY 305

PART ONE

MY EARLY ASSOCIATIONS WITH GINGER STOTT

PART ONE

MY EARLY ASSOCIATIONS WITH GINGER STOTT

CHAPTER I

THE MOTIVE

I

I could not say at which station the woman and her baby entered the train.

Since we had left London, I had been struggling with Baillie's translation of Hegel's "Phenomenology." It was not a book to read among such distracting circumstances as those of a railway journey, but I was eagerly planning a little dissertation of my own at that time, and my work as a journalist gave me little leisure for quiet study.

I looked up when the woman entered my compartment, though I did not notice the name of the station. I caught sight of the baby she was carrying, and turned back to my book. I thought the child was a freak, an abnormality; and such things disgust me.

I returned to the study of my Hegel and read: "For knowledge is not the divergence of the ray, but the ray itself by which the truth comes to us; and if this ray be removed, the bare direction or the empty place would alone be indicated."