THE QUEEN’S QUAIR OR THE SIX YEARS’ TRAGEDY [Illustration] THE QUEEN’S QUAIR OR The Six Years’ Tragedy BY MAURICE HEWLETT ‘Improbus ille puer, crudelis tu quoque Mater’ New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. 1904 _All rights reserved_ COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY MAURICE HEWLETT. COPYRIGHT, 1903, 1904, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up, electrotyped, and published May, 1904. Norwood Press J. S. Cushing & Co.—Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. BY HIS PERMISSION AND WITH GOOD REASON THIS TRAGIC ESSAY IS INSCRIBED TO ANDREW LANG CONTENTS PAGE AUTHOR’S PROLOGUE 1 BOOK THE FIRST MAIDS’ ADVENTURE CHAP. 1. HERE YOU ARE IN THE ANTECHAMBER 7 2. HERE YOU STEP INTO THE FOG 25 3. SUPERFICIAL PROPERTIES OF THE HONEYPOT 36 4. ROUGH MUSIC HERE 47 5. HERE ARE FLIES AT THE HONEYPOT 67 6. THE FOOL’S WHIP 77 7. GORDON’S BANE 91 8. THE DIVORCE OF MARY LIVINGSTONE (_To an Italian Air_) 106 9. AIR OF ST. ANDREW: ADONIS AND THE SCAPEGOAT 121 10. THEY LOOK AND LIKE 135 11. PROTHALAMIUM: VENUS WINS FAIR ADONIS 146 12. EPITHALAMIUM: END OF ALL MAIDS’ ADVENTURE 169 BOOK THE SECOND MEN’S BUSINESS 1. OPINIONS OF FRENCH PARIS UPON SOME LATE EVENTS 191 2. GRIEFS AND CONSOLATIONS OF ADONIS 201 3. DIVERS USES OF A HARDY MAN 214 4. MANY DOGS 229 5. MIDNIGHT EXPERIENCES OF JEAN-MARIE-BAPTISTE DES-ESSARS 236 6. VENUS IN THE TOILS 250 7. AFTERTASTE 270 8. KING’S EVIL 287