A CHANGE OF AIR [Illustration: ANTHONY HOPE HAWKINS.] A CHANGE OF AIR. BY ANTHONY HOPE AUTHOR OF "THE PRISONER OF ZENDA," ETC. [Illustration] NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 1894 COPYRIGHT, 1894, BY HENRY HOLT & CO. THE MERSHON COMPANY PRESS, RAHWAY, N. J. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE "ANTHONY HOPE", vii I. A MISSION TO THE HEATHEN, 1 II. THE NEW MAN AT LITTLEHILL, 7 III. DENBOROUGH DETERMINES TO CALL, 16 IV. A QUIET SUNDAY AFTERNOON, 26 V. THE NECESSARY SCAPEGOAT, 36 VI. LITTLEHILL GOES INTO SOCIETY, 47 VII. "TO A PRETTY SAINT," 57 VIII. AN INDISCREET DISCIPLE, 67 IX. DALE'S OWN OPINION, 77 X. A PREJUDICED VERDICT, 87 XI. A FABLE ABOUT BIRDS, 98 XII. A DEDICATION--AND A DESECRATION, 106 XIII. THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF GENIUS, 114 XIV. MR. DELANE LIKES THE IDEA, 123 XV. HOW IT SEEMED TO THE DOCTOR, 132 XVI. "NO MORE KINGS," 141 XVII. DALE TRIES HIS HAND AT AN ODE, 153 XVIII. DELILAH JOHNSTONE, 161 XIX. A WELL-PAID POEM, 169 XX. AN EVENING'S END, 177 XXI. "THE OTHER GIRL DID," 183 XXII. THE FITNESS OF THINGS, 191 XXIII. A MORBID SCRUPLE, 200 XXIV. THE HEROINE OF THE INCIDENT, 208 XXV. THE SCENE OF THE OUTRAGE, 219 XXVI. AGAINST HER BETTER JUDGMENT, 229 XXVII. A VILLAIN UNMASKED, 237 XXVIII. A VISION, 245 "ANTHONY HOPE." In his speech at the annual banquet of the Royal Academy in 1894, among many other good things, Mr. Andrew Lang said: "The thrifty plan of giving us sermons, politics, fiction, all in one stodgy sandwich, produces no permanent literature, produces but temporary 'tracts for the times.' Fortunately we have among us many novelists--young ones, luckily--who are true to the primitive and eternal, the Fijian canons of fiction. We have Oriental romance from the author of 'Plain Tales from the Hills.' We have the humor and tenderness--certainly not Fijian, I admit--which produces that masterpiece 'A Window in Thrums'; we have the adventurous fancy that gives us 'A Gentleman of France,' 'The Master of Ballantrae,' 'Micah Clarke,' 'The Raiders,' 'The Prisoner of Zenda.'"