+-------------------------------------------------+ |Transcriber’s note: | | | |Obvious typographic errors have been corrected. | | | +-------------------------------------------------+ [Illustration: “Oh, father, don’t, don’t! You’ll hurt him.” --_Frontispiece._] FORGE AND FURNACE A Novel BY FLORENCE WARDEN AUTHOR OF “THE HOUSE ON THE MARSH,” “SCHEHERAZADE,” “A PRINCE OF DARKNESS,” ETC. [Illustration: Logo] NEW YORK NEW AMSTERDAM BOOK COMPANY 156 FIFTH AVENUE COPYRIGHT, 1896, BY NEW AMSTERDAM BOOK COMPANY. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. A Pair of Brown Eyes 5 II. Claire 13 III. Something Wrong at the Farm 18 IV. Claire’s Apology 21 V. Bram’s Rise in Life 31 VI. Mr. Biron’s Condescension 38 VII. Bram’s Dismissal 46 VIII. Another Step Upward 54 IX. A Call and a Dinner Party 61 X. The Fine Eyes of her Cashbox 70 XI. Bram Shows Himself in a New Light 80 XII. A Model Father 86 XIII. An Ill-matched Pair 102 XIV. The Deluge 111 XV. Parent and Lover 118 XVI. The Pangs of Despised Love 126 XVII. Bram Speaks his Mind 134 XVIII. Face to Face 143 XIX. Sanctuary 151 XX. The Furnace Fires 159 XXI. The Fire Goes Out 168 XXII. Claire’s Confession 173 XXIII. Father and Daughter 184 XXIV. Mr. Biron’s Repentance 190 XXV. Meg 200 XXVI. The Goal Reached 206 FORGE AND FURNACE; THE ROMANCE OF A SHEFFIELD BLADE. CHAPTER I. A PAIR OF BROWN EYES. Thud, thud. Amidst a shower of hot, yellow sparks the steam hammer came down on the glowing steel, shaking the ground under the feet of the master of the works and his son, who stood just outside the shed. In the full blaze of the August sunshine, which was, however, tempered by such clouds of murky smoke as only Sheffield can boast, old Mr. Cornthwaite, acclimatized for many a year to heat and to coal dust, stood quite unconcerned.