BOY _PUBLISHER’S NOTE._ _This NEW LONG STORY is the most important volume by MARIE CORELLI published for some years, and the first issued since the Author’s serious illness._ _May 31, 1900._ BOY A SKETCH _By_ MARIE CORELLI [Illustration: colophon] London HUTCHINSON & CO Paternoster Row 1900 PRINTED BY HAZELL, WATSON, AND VINEY, LD., LONDON AND AYLESBURY. To MY DEAREST FRIEND IN THE WORLD BERTHA VYVER WHO HAS KNOWN ALL MY LIFE FROM CHILDHOOD AND HAS BEEN THE WITNESS OF ALL MY LITERARY WORK FROM ITS VERY BEGINNING THIS SIMPLE STORY IS GRATEFULLY AND LOVINGLY DEDICATED BOY CHAPTER I It is said by many people who are supposed to “know things,” that our life is frequently, if not always, influenced by the first impressions we ourselves receive of its value or worthlessness. Some folks, presuming to be wiser even than the wisest, go so far as to affirm that if you, while still an infant in long clothes, happen to take a disgust at the manner and customs of your parents, you will inevitably be disgusted at most events and persons throughout the remainder of your earthly pilgrimage. If any truth exists in such a statement, then “Boy” had excellent cause to be profoundly disappointed in his prospects at a very early outset of his career. He sat in what is sometimes called a “feeding-chair,” wedged in by a bar which guarded him from falling forward or tumbling out upon the floor, and the said bar was provided with an ingenious piece of wood, which was partially hollowed out in such wise as to keep him firm by his fat waist, as well as to provide a resting-place for the plateful of bread-and-milk which he was enjoying as much as circumstances would permit him to enjoy anything. Every now and then he beat the plate solemnly with his spoon, as though improvising a barbaric melody on a new sort of tom-tom,--and lifting a pair of large, angelic blue eyes upwards, till their limpid light seemed to meet and mix with the gold-glint of his tangled curls, he murmured pathetically,-- “Oh, Poo Sing! Does ’oo feels ill? Does ’oo feels bad? Oh, Poo Sing!”