DEATH OF A HERO _A NOVEL BY RICHARD ALDINGTON_ 1929 COVICI · FRIEDE · INC · NEW YORK COPYRIGHT, 1929, BY COVICI-FRIEDE, INC. Second printing, July, 1929 Third printing, July, 1929 Fourth printing, October, 1929 _Manufactured in the United States of America by the VAN REES PRESS, New York_ _“See how we trifle! but one can’t pass one’s youth too amusingly; for one must grow old, and that in England; two most serious circumstances, either of which makes people grey in the twinkling of a bed-staff; for know you, there is not a country upon earth where there are so many old fools and so few young ones.”_ HORACE WALPOLE TO _HALCOTT GLOVER_ MY DEAR HAL, Remembering George Moore’s denunciation of prefaces, I felt that what I wanted to say here could be best expressed in a letter to you. Although you are a little older than I, you belong essentially to the same generation—those who spent their childhood and adolescence struggling, like young Samsons, in the toils of the Victorians; whose early manhood coincided with the European War. A great number of the men of our generation died prematurely. We are unlucky or lucky enough to remain. I began this book almost immediately after the Armistice, in a little Belgian cottage—my billet. I remember the landscape was buried deep in snow, and that we had very little fuel. Then came demobilization, and the effort of readjustment cost my manuscript its life. I threw it aside, and never picked it up again. The attempt was premature. Then, ten years later, almost day for day, I once more felt the impulse return, and began this book. You, I know, will read it sympathetically for many reasons. But I cannot expect the same favour from others.