THE DELIVERANCE; A ROMANCE OF THE VIRGINIA TOBACCO FIELDS By Ellen Glasgow 1904 CONTENTS BOOK I. The Inheritance CHAPTER I. The Man in the Field II. The Owner of Blake Hall III. Showing That a Little Culture Entails Great Care IV. Of Human Nature in the Raw State V. The Wreck of the Blakes VI. Carraway Plays Courtier VII. In Which a Stand Is Made VIII. Treats of a Passion That Is Not Love IX. Cynthia X. Sentimental and Otherwise BOOK II. The Temptation I. The Romance That Might Have Been II. The Romance That Was III. Fletcher's Move and Christopher's Counterstroke IV. A Gallant Deed That Leads to Evil V. The Glimpse of a Bride VI. Shows Fletcher in a New Light VII. In Which Hero and Villain Appear as One VIII. Between the Devil and the Deep Sea IX. As the Twig Is Bent X. Powers of Darkness BOOK III. The Revenge I. In Which Tobacco Is Hero II. Between Christopher and Will III. Mrs. Blake Speaks Her Mind on Several Matters IV. In Which Christopher Hesitates V. The Happiness of Tucker VI. The Wages of Folly VII. The Toss of a Coin VIII. In Which Christopher Triumphs BOOK IV. The Awakening I. The Unforeseen II. Maria Returns to the Hall III. The Day Afterward IV. The Meeting in the Night V. Maria Stands on Christopher's Ground VI. The Growing Light VII. In which Carraway Speaks the Truth to Maria VIII. Between Maria and Christopher IX. Christopher Faces Himself X. By the Poplar Spring BOOK V. The Ancient Law I. Christopher Seeks an Escape II. The Measure of Maria III. Will's Ruin IV. In Which Mrs. Blake's Eyes are Opened V. Christopher Plants by Moonlight VI. Treats of the Tragedy Which Wears a Comic Mask VII. Will Faces Desperation and Stands at Bay VIII. How Christopher Comes into His Revenge IX. The Fulfilling of the Law X. The Wheel of Life LIST OF CHARACTERS CHRISTOPHER BLAKE, a tobacco-grower MRS. BLAKE, his mother TUCKER CORBIN, an old soldier CYNTHIA and LILA BLAKE; sisters of Christopher CARRAWAY, a lawyer BILL FLETCHER, a wealthy farmer MARIA FLETCHER, his granddaughter WILL FLETCHER, his grandson "MISS SAIDIE," sister of Fletcher JACOB WEATHERBY, a tobacco-grower JIM WEATHERBY, his son SOL PETERKIN, another tobacco-grower MOLLY PETERKIN, daughter of Sol Tom SPADE, a country storekeeper SUSAN, his wife UNCLE BOAZ, a Negro Book I THE INHERITANCE CHAPTER I. The Man in the Field When the Susquehanna stage came to the daily halt beneath the blasted pine at the cross-roads, an elderly man, wearing a flapping frock coat and a soft slouch hat, stepped gingerly over one of the muddy wheels, and threw a doubtful glance across the level tobacco fields, where the young plants were drooping in the June sunshine. "So this is my way, is it?" he asked, with a jerk of his thumb toward a cloud of blue-and-yellow butterflies drifting over a shining puddle--"five miles as the crow flies, and through a bog?"