Produced by David T. Jones, Elizabeth Oscanyan, Al Haines & the online Distributed Proofreaders Canada team at http://www.pgdpcanada.net The Love-Story of Aliette Brunton By Gilbert Frankau * * * * * [Illustration] * * * * * F. D. GOODCHILD TORONTO 1922 Copyright, 1922, by THE CENTURY CO. Printed in U. S. A. TO MY WIFE AND LOYAL ASSOCIATE AIMÉE DE BURGH FRANKAU IN ALL LOVE AND A GREAT REVERENCE THIS STORY OF A WOMAN'S COURAGE But woman's gamble (there's only one; And it takes some pluck to play, When the rules are broke ere the game's begun; When, lose _or_ win, you must pay!) Is a double wager on human kind, A limitless risk--and she goes it blind. For she stakes, at love, on a single throw, Pride, Honor, Scruples, and Fears, And dreams no lover can hope to know, And the gold of the after-years. (And all for a man; and there's no man lives Who is worth the odds that a woman gives.) --From "The Judgment of Valhalla." THE LOVE-STORY OF ALIETTE BRUNTON The Love-Story of Aliette Brunton PREAMBLE 1 In our heart of hearts--which we in England take almost as much pains to hide from ourselves as from our fellow-creatures--most of us realize that life without love is a weariness, a conflict bereft of hope, a struggle for no victory. Yet Love, the Real Thing--whether it be love of a god or love of our fellow-creatures, the love of a man for his mate, of a mother for her son, of a friend for his friend or a girl for her chosen--is not the law of the majority. Because Love, the Real Thing--as all real things--demands infinite self-sacrifice: and infinite self-sacrifice is too divine a code for the average imperfect human being, who must needs make himself other codes or perish. This, therefore, Aliette's love-story, deals of necessity with the self-sacrifices endured not only by Aliette but by many of those who came within the orbit of her personality.