THE ROOM _The_ BORZOI _POCKET BOOKS_ HUNGER _Knut Hamsun_ ANDALUSIA _W. S. Maugham_ JAVA HEAD _Joseph Hergesheimer_ TARAS BULBA _Nikolai Gogol_ LONDON RIVER _H. M. Tomlinson_ PETER JAMESON _Gilbert Frankau_ 170 CHINESE POEMS _Translated by Arthur Waley_ PREJUDICES: First Series _H. L. Mencken_ THE GREEN GODDESS _William Archer_ CAESAR OR NOTHING _Pío Baroja_ GROWTH OF THE SOIL _Knut Hamsun_ THE POPULAR THEATRE _George Jean Nathan_ THE ROOM _by_ _G. B. Stern_ _NEW YORK_ ALFRED · A · KNOPF COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY G. B. STERN _Published, October, 1922_ _Pocket Book Edition, Published August, 1923_ _Set up, electrotyped, and printed by the Vail-Ballou Co., Binghamton, N. Y._ _Paper furnished by W. F. Etherington & Co., New York, N. Y._ _Bound by the H. Wolff Estate, New York, N. Y._ MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO SHEILA KAYE-SMITH With love and in memory of a country cottage in Kensington. CONTENTS PART I DULCE DOMUM 11 PART II “DOUG” 157 PART III ARCADIA--MORE OR LESS 175 PART IV THE GIRL IN THE ROOM 235 PART I DULCE DOMUM [I] AUNT LAVVY called Hal as he was passing through the hall: “Is that you, Hal dear? Will you be going anywhere near Platt’s?” “No, but I can quite easily. Why? Do you want me to look and see if your fortune’s still there?” For Aunt Lavvy banked at the local branch of Platt’s; it was only open three times a week from ten A. M. to twelve; Buckler’s Cross was not as yet a very important country suburb.