_Books by_ _HUGH WALPOLE_ * * * * * _Novels_ THE WOODEN HORSE MR. PERRIN AND MR. TRAILL THE DARK FOREST THE SECRET CITY THE CATHEDRAL _The London Novels_ FORTITUDE THE DUCHESS OF WREXE THE GREEN MIRROR THE CAPTIVES THE YOUNG ENCHANTED _Fantasies_ MARADICK AT FORTY THE PRELUDE TO ADVENTURE PORTRAIT OF MAN WITH RED HAIR (_In Preparation_) _Books About Children_ THE GOLDEN SCARE CROW JEREMY JEREMY AND HAMLET _Belles-Lettres_ JOSEPH CONRAD: A CRITICAL STUDY Jeremy and Hamlet A Chronicle of Certain Incidents In the Lives Of a Boy, A Dog, and a Country Town By HUGH WALPOLE CASSELL AND COMPANY, LIMITED London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne First published 1923 _Printed in Great Britain._ To MY FATHER AND MOTHER FROM THEIR DEVOTED FRIEND THEIR SON It is not growing like a tree In bulk, doth make man better be; Or standing long an oak, three hundred year, To fall a log at last, dry, bald and sear; A lily of a day Is fairer far in May Although it fall and die that night—— It was the plant and flower of light. In small proportions we just beauties see, And in short measures life may perfect be. —BEN JONSON. CONTENTS 1. COME OUT OF THE KITCHEN 2. CONSCIENCE MONEY 3. THE DANCE 4. SALADIN AND THE BLACK BISHOP 5. POODLE 6. THE NIGHT RAIDERS 7. YOUNG BALTIMORE 8. THE RUFFIANS 9. THE PICTURE-BOOK 10. UNCLE PERCY 11. THE RUNAWAYS 12. A FINE DAY Jeremy and Hamlet CHAPTER I COME OUT OF THE KITCHEN . . . I