E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Barbara Tozier, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 19658-h.htm or 19658-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/6/5/19658/19658-h/19658-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/6/5/19658/19658-h.zip) THE JUDGMENT OF EVE by MAY SINCLAIR Author of "The Divine Fire" Illustrated [Illustration: "Arthur lay at her feet and read aloud to her"] New York and London Harper & Brothers Publishers MCMVIII Copyright, 1907, by Harper & Brothers. All rights reserved. Published March, 1908. ILLUSTRATIONS "Arthur lay at her feet and read aloud to her" "'John,' she said, suddenly, 'did you ever kill a pig?'" "Over their cocoa he developed his theory of life" "'Quack, quack!' said Arthur, and it made the baby nearly choke with laughter" "She listened without a scruple, justified by her motherhood" "'Now, isn't it a pity for you to be going, dearie?'" "'There isn't an unsweet, unsound spot in one of them'" "Thoughts came to him, terrible thoughts" THE JUDGMENT OF EVE "'I saw a ship a-sailing, a-sailing on the sea'"--_Nursery Rhyme_. I It was market-day in Queningford. Aggie Purcell was wondering whether Mr. Hurst would look in that afternoon at the Laurels as he had looked in on other market-days. Supposing he did, and supposing Mr. Gatty were to look in, too, why then, Aggie said, it would be rather awkward. But whether awkward for herself, or for Mr. Gatty, or Mr. Hurst, or for all three of them together, Aggie was unable to explain to her own satisfaction or her mother's. In Queningford there were not many suitors for a young lady to choose from, but it was understood that, such as there were, Aggie Purcell would have her pick of them. The other young ladies were happy enough if they could get her leavings. Miss Purcell of the Laurels was by common consent the prettiest, the best-dressed, and the best-mannered of them all. To be sure, she could only be judged by Queningford standards; and, as the railway nearest to Queningford is a terminus that leaves the small gray town stranded on the borders of the unknown, Queningford standards are not progressive. Neither are they imitative; for imitation implies a certain nearness, and between the young ladies of Queningford and the daughters of the county there is an immeasurable void.