Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books (the University of California) Transcriber's Notes: 1. Page scan source: http://books.google.com/books?id=x2YpAQAAIAAJ (the University of California) 2. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe]. THE HOSTS OF THE LORD THE HOSTS OF THE LORD BY FLORA ANNIE STEEL AUTHOR OF "ON THE FACE OF THE WATERS," "MISS STUART'S LEGACY," "THE FLOWER OF FORGIVENESS," ETC. New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 1900 _All rights reserved_ Copyright, 1899, By FLORA ANNIE STEEL. Copyright, 1900, By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Norwood Press J.S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith Norwood Mass. U.S.A. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. A Shadow. II. "He shall feed his Flock like a Shepherd." III. Driftwood. IV. Under-currents. V. The "Dee-Puk-Râg." VI. Alpha and Omega. VII. The World's Desire. VIII. Falling Stars. IX. Out of the Past. X. The Pivots of Life. XI. Wheels within Wheels. XII. The Church Militant. XIII. At the Gates. XIV. Miracle Mongers. XV. Oh! dem Golden Slippers! XVI. Echoes. XVII. The Pool of Immortality. XVIII. Adrift. XIX. Juliet. XX. Trapped. XXI. Margherita. XXII. A Monopoly. XXIII. The Search-Light. XXIV. Beyond the Shadow. XXV. Dawn. XXVI. Foiled. XXVII. L'Addio del Marito. XXVIII. The Truth. THE HOSTS OF THE LORD [Illustration: Two Bars of Music] THE HOSTS OF THE LORD CHAPTER I A SHADOW "Understand! Of course you don't. I don't, though I've been here two years. And what's more, I don't want to," retorted a rather undersized Englishman, whose white drill suit made him look like a stem to the huge mushroom of a pith hat which he wore. Despite this protection his face was brown exceedingly, and faintly wrinkled through sheer exposure to sun-bright, sun-dried air. The fact enhanced the monkey type of his features, and made his clear, light-blue eyes--so set that they were shadowless below and cavernous above--look quite aggressively cool, inquisitive, intelligent.