Produced by David Widger from page images generously provided by Google Books BUELL HAMPTON By Willis George Emerson Boston And Chicago: Forbes & Company: 1902 DEDICATED TO MY OLD SWEETHEART My sweetheart of the long ago— With rosy cheeks and raven hair— Sang lullabies so soft and low, All joyous was the rhythmic air. Though other links with luckless fate Have brought me bruises bathed in tears, From childhood up to man’s estate Her love has held me all the years. Our ties grow fonder, day by day, While graces, all, in her combine. Oh, love! make good and glad the way Where walks this sweetheart—Mother mine. CONTENTS THEME BUELL HAMPTON CHAPTER I.—AT LAKE GENEVA CHAPTER II.—A CHANCE MEETING CHAPTER III.—A DECLARATION CHAPTER IV.—THE DEPARTURE CHAPTER V.—A FRONTIER BANKER CHAPTER VI.—MAJOR BUELL HAMPTON CHAPTER VII.—THE CATTLE KING CHAPTER VIII.—A COMMITTEE OF FIVE CHAPTER IX.—AN AFTERNOON DRIVE CHAPTER X.—HOME OF THE HORTONS CHAPTER XI.—DADDY’. CONSENT CHAPTER XII.—KANSAS PROHIBITION CHAPTER XIII.—MAJOR HAMPTON’. LIBRARY CHAPTER XIV.—THE SONG CHAPTER XV.—THE RETRACTION CHAPTER XVI.—THE OLD VIOLIN CHAPTER XVII.—LENOX AVONDALE’. ARRIVAL CHAPTER XVIII.—A LOVE SONG CHAPTER XIX.—AN INVITATION TO JOIN CHAPTER XX.—A DINNER AT THE HORTONS CHAPTER XXI.—THE FOOT-RACE CHAPTER XXII.—THE ELECTION CHAPTER XXIII.—A FORGED LETTER CHAPTER XXIV.—REVERSING THE HIGHER COURTS CHAPTER XXV.—ALMOST A TRAGEDY CHAPTER XXVI.—REACHING A DECISION CHAPTER XXVII.—THE HOT WINDS CHAPTER XXVIII.—“THY WILL BE DONE” CHAPTER XXIX.—JACK REDFIELD ARRIVES CHAPTER XXX.—THE QUARREL CHAPTER XXXI.—THE PASSING OF LORD AVONDALE CHAPTER XXXII.—THE SILENCING OF GOSSIP CHAPTER XXXIII.—A RIDE AMONG SUNFLOWERS CHAPTER XXXIV.—THE PRAIRIE-FIRE CHAPTER XXXV.—A BUCKING BRONCO CHAPTER XXXVI.—A STARTLING REVELATION CHAPTER XXXVII.—TRYING TO REMEMBER CHAPTER XXXVIII.—TRUTH STRANGER THAN FICTION CHAPTER XXXIX.—JUDGE LYNN HAS AN IDEA CHAPTER XL.—THE CATTLE THIEF CAUGHT CHAPTER XLI.—A ROSICRUCIAN CHAPTER XLII.—A NEW-MADE GRAVE CHAPTER XLIII.—UNDER THE QUIET STARS THEME Once an American mother, with the wealth of a Croesus and a lovely daughter, longed for titled distinction. In her net she caught an adventurer, clothed in a frayed-out remnant of a former nobility—and an eyeglass. They bartered and came to terms,—dollars, title,—while an innocent girl was thrown in as an incident. “And what is writ is writ,— Would it were worthier.” Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Every author who, early or late, finds it his delightful, yet dangerous, privilege to “get under cover” owes something to Pliny the Younger for recording the fact that Pliny the Elder used to say that “no book was so bad but that some good might be got out of it.” With this delightful assurance as an incentive, the author of “Buell Hampton” began, some twelve years ago, to construct the story herewith presented.