Produced by David Garcia, Sam W. and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Kentuckiana Digital Library) THE HOUSE OF FULFILMENT By GEORGE MADDEN MARTIN AUTHOR OF EMMY LOU [Illustration] NEW YORK McCLURE, PHILLIPS & CO. MCMIV _Copyright, 1904, by_ McCLURE, PHILLIPS & CO. Published, September, 1904 Second Impression Copyright, 1904, by The S. S. McClure Co. [Illustration: "WHAT IS YOUR NAME, DEAR?"] To A. R. M. CONTENTS PAGE PART ONE 1 CHAPTER ONE 3 CHAPTER TWO 18 CHAPTER THREE 27 CHAPTER FOUR 35 CHAPTER FIVE 53 CHAPTER SIX 65 CHAPTER SEVEN 78 PART TWO 85 CHAPTER ONE 87 CHAPTER TWO 106 CHAPTER THREE 115 CHAPTER FOUR 147 CHAPTER FIVE 163 CHAPTER SIX 173 CHAPTER SEVEN 187 CHAPTER EIGHT 207 PART THREE 227 CHAPTER ONE 229 CHAPTER TWO 244 CHAPTER THREE 261 CHAPTER FOUR 278 CHAPTER FIVE 286 CHAPTER SIX 297 CHAPTER SEVEN 304 CHAPTER EIGHT 321 CHAPTER NINE 328 CHAPTER TEN 337 CHAPTER ELEVEN 341 CHAPTER TWELVE 350 CHAPTER THIRTEEN 354 CHAPTER FOURTEEN 368 PART ONE "Love is enough: ho ye who seek saving, Go no further: come hither: there have been who have found it, And these know the House of Fulfilment of craving; These know the Cup with the roses around it; These know the World's Wound and the balm that hath bound it." WILLIAM MORRIS. --"Elements, breeds, adjustments ... A new race dominating previous ones." WALT WHITMAN. CHAPTER ONE Harriet Blair was seventeen when she went with her father and mother and her brother Austen to New Orleans, to the marriage of an older brother, Alexander, the father's business representative at that place. It was characteristic of the Blairs that they declined the hospitality of the bride's family, and from the hotel attended, punctiliously and formally, the occasions for which they had come. It takes ease to accept hospitality.