Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Print project.) THE HERO BY WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM AUTHOR OF "LIZA OF LAMBETH," "THE MAKING Of A SAINT," "ORIENTATIONS" London . . . . . HUTCHINSON & CO. Paternoster Row. 1901 "Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves; Britons never will be slaves." _"Alfred": a Masque. By James Thomson._ "O Sophonisba, Sophonisba, O!" _"Sophonisba": a Tragedy. By the same Author._ To MISS JULIA MAUGHAM THE HERO I Colonel Parsons sat by the window in the dining-room to catch the last glimmer of the fading day, looking through his _Standard_ to make sure that he had overlooked no part of it. Finally, with a little sigh, he folded it up, and taking off his spectacles, put them in their case. "Have you finished the paper?" asked his wife "Yes, I think I've read it all. There's nothing in it." He looked out of window at the well-kept drive that led to the house, and at the trim laurel bushes which separated the front garden from the village green. His eyes rested, with a happy smile, upon the triumphal arch which decorated the gate for the home-coming of his son, expected the next day from South Africa. Mrs. Parsons knitted diligently at a sock for her husband, working with quick and clever fingers. He watched the rapid glint of the needles. "You'll try your eyes if you go on much longer with this light, my dear." "Oh, I don't require to see," replied his wife, with a gentle, affectionate smile. But she stopped, rather tired, and laying the sock on the table, smoothed it out with her hand. "I shouldn't mind if you made it a bit higher in the leg than the last pair." "How high would you like it?" She went to the window so that the Colonel might show the exact length he desired; and when he had made up his mind, sat down again quietly on her chair by the fireside, with hands crossed on her lap, waiting placidly for the maid to bring the lamp.