Tatterdemalion   By: John Galsworthy (1867-1933)

TATTERDEMALION

by

JOHN GALSWORTHY

"Gentillesse cometh fro' God allone." Chaucer

New York Charles Scribner's Sons 1920

Copyright, 1917, 1918, 1920, by Charles Scribner's Sons

Copyright, 1915, 1916, by The Ridgway Company Copyright, 1919, by The New Republic Publishing Co., Inc. Copyright, 1914, 1916, 1919, by The Atlantic Monthly Co.

[Illustration]

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

VILLA RUBEIN, and Other Stories THE ISLAND PHARISEES THE MAN OF PROPERTY THE COUNTRY HOUSE FRATERNITY THE PATRICIAN THE DARK FLOWER THE FREELANDS BEYOND FIVE TALES SAINT'S PROGRESS TATTERDEMALION

A COMMENTARY A MOTLEY THE INN OF TRANQUILLITY THE LITTLE MAN, and Other Satires A SHEAF ANOTHER SHEAF ADDRESSES IN AMERICA: 1919

PLAYS: FIRST SERIES and Separately

THE SILVER BOX JOY STRIFE

PLAYS: SECOND SERIES and Separately

THE ELDEST SON THE LITTLE DREAM JUSTICE

PLAYS: THIRD SERIES and Separately

THE FUGITIVE THE PIGEON THE MOB

A BIT O' LOVE

MOODS, SONGS, AND DOGGERELS MEMORIES. Illustrated

TO ELIZABETH LUCAS

CONTENTS

PART I. OF WAR TIME PAGE

I. THE GREY ANGEL 3

II. DEFEAT 27

III. FLOTSAM AND JETSAM 51

IV. THE BRIGHT SIDE 75

V. "CAFARD" 105

VI. RECORDED 117

VII. THE RECRUIT 125

VIII. THE PEACE MEETING 137

IX. "THE DOG IT WAS THAT DIED" 147

X. IN HEAVEN AND EARTH 169

XI. THE MOTHER STONE 173

XII. POIROT AND BIDAN 179

XIII. THE MUFFLED SHIP 187

XIV. HERITAGE 191

XV. 'A GREEN HILL FAR AWAY' 199

PART II. OF PEACE TIME

I. SPINDLEBERRIES 209

II. EXPECTATIONS 227

III. MANNA 239

IV. A STRANGE THING 255

V. TWO LOOKS 271

VI. FAIRYLAND 279

VII. THE NIGHTMARE CHILD 283

VIII. BUTTERCUP NIGHT 295

TATTERDEMALION

PART I

OF WAR TIME

I

THE GREY ANGEL

Her predilection for things French came from childish recollections of school days in Paris, and a hasty removal thence by her father during the revolution of '48, of later travels as a little maiden, by diligence, to Pau and the then undiscovered Pyrenees, to a Montpellier and a Nice as yet unspoiled. Unto her seventy eighth year, her French accent had remained unruffled, her soul in love with French gloves and dresses; and her face had the pale, unwrinkled, slightly aquiline perfection of the 'French marquise' type it may, perhaps, be doubted whether any French marquise ever looked the part so perfectly.