E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by Internet Archive/American Libraries (http://www.archive.org/details/americana) Note: Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive/American Libraries. See http://www.archive.org/details/thefurnace00maca THE FURNACE by R. MACAULAY Author of 'Abbots Verney' London John Murray, Albemarle Street, W. 1907 TO THE OTHER CITIZENS OF SANTA CATERINA, VARAZZE, WHO, AT PRESENT SCATTERED LABORIOUSLY OVER THREE CONTINENTS, INTEND, IN THE SPACIOUS DAYS OF LEISURE THAT AGE SHALL BRING, TO INHABIT AGAIN THE RED HOUSE BEYOND THE TOWN AND NAVIGATE THE WHITE CANOE. 'Le métal precieux qu'on trouvera un jour au fond des cendres....' MAURICE MAETERLINCK CONTENTS I. YOUTH IN THE CITY II. THE IMPRESSION-SEEKER III. OF MENTAL STANDPOINTS IV. BLIND WALLS V. BALÆ'S BAY VI. GRADONI VII. RETROSPECT WITH THE SEARCH-LIGHT VIII. BROKEN BARRIERS IX. FURNACE FLAMES X. BETTY AND TOMMY XI. THE ETERNAL ROADS XII. THE ROADS DIVIDE XIII. PINE-BARK BOATS THE FURNACE CHAPTER I YOUTH IN THE CITY 'Val più aver amici in piazza Che denari nella cassa.' _Proverb._ Royalty was arriving in the harbour in a steam-yacht. It had, that is, already arrived in the harbour; it was now disembarking on the pier. It was an interesting event. An edified crowd watched it; representatives of the Press jotted down their impressions; some took photographs. A few drew pictures instead. The representative of the _Marchese Peppino_, an illustrated paper widely perused in certain circles, drew pictures; one might gather that it was his intention to be funny, later, when he had leisure to amplify. _Marchese Peppino_ always had that intention, and its readers, whose judgment of humour was possibly, however, not of the most delicate or polished type, considered that it usually fulfilled it. The drawings now in process of production were, before they were amplified at leisure, really quite like life; later they would become less so, but no doubt more entertaining. They seemed to be a little funny even now. A man looking over the artist's shoulder giggled and dug him in the ribs. The artist was a nonchalant young man, who did not seem to be amusing himself particularly, but to be working in a wholly professional and business-like spirit. He had quick eyes and clever fingers, and presumably, since he did his job really well, a suitably developed sense of the ludicrous.