SHAKESPEARE'S CHRISTMAS AND OTHER STORIES [Illustration: "UNBAR THE DOOR!" SHE COMMANDED. _Frontispiece._ _See p. 286_] SHAKESPEARE'S CHRISTMAS AND OTHER STORIES BY "Q" (A.T. QUILLER-COUCH) _WITH ILLUSTRATIONS_ LONDON SMITH, ELDER & CO., 15, WATERLOO PLACE 1905 (_All rights reserved_) Copyright, 1904 In the United States of America By A.T. QUILLER-COUCH CONTENTS PAGE SHAKESPEARE'S CHRISTMAS 1 YE SEXES, GIVE EAR! 65 CAPTAIN WYVERN'S ADVENTURES 115 FRENCHMAN'S CREEK 157 THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN 207 RAIN OF DOLLARS 243 THE LAMP AND THE GUITAR 291 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS "UNBAR THE DOOR!" SHE COMMANDED. _Frontispiece_ WHIRLED DOWN THE LENGTH OF THE ROOM LANDLORD OKE GAVE A FLOURISH WITH HIS CHALK AND WROTE THE LITTLE OFFICER HAD TURNED WHITE AS A SHEET "'TIS TOO LATE, MY MASTER!" TRECARREL CALLED CHEERFULLY DOWN THE TRAP "IN THE NAME OF H.M. KING GEORGE III. I CHARGE YOU TO COME ALONG QUIET" "GET DOWN FROM YOUR HORSE, SIR" SHE CAUGHT UP A GUITAR AND CHIMED IN SHAKESPEARE'S CHRISTMAS "_And moreover, at this Fair there is at all times to be seen Jugglings, Cheats, Games, Plays, Fools, Apes, Knaves, and Rogues, and that of every kind.... Now, as I said, the way to the Celestial City lies just through this town, where this lusty Fair is kept; and he that will go to the City, and yet not go through this Town, must needs go out of the World._"--BUNYAN. I At the theatre in Shoreditch, on Christmas Eve, 1598, the Lord Chamberlain's servants presented a new comedy. Never had the Burbages played to such a house. It cheered every speech--good, bad, or indifferent. To be sure, some of the _dramatis personæ_--Prince Hal and Falstaff, Bardolph and Mistress Quickly--were old friends; but this alone would not account for such a welcome. A cutpurse in the twopenny gallery who had been paid to lead the applause gave up toiling in the wake of it, and leaned back with a puzzled grin. "Bravo, master!" said he to his left-hand neighbour a burly, red-faced countryman well past middle age, whose laughter kept the bench rocking. "But have a care, lest they mistake you for the author!" "The author? Ho-ho!"----but here he broke off to leap to his feet and lead another round of applause. "The author?" he repeated, dropping back and glancing an eye sidelong from under his handkerchief while he mopped his brow. "You shoot better than you know, my friend: the bolt grazes. But a miss, they say, is as good as a mile."