+-------------------------------------------------+ |Transcriber's note: | | | |Obvious typographic errors have been corrected. | | | +-------------------------------------------------+ THE THREE FURLONGERS [Illustration: With outstretched arms she rushed to one of them --Page 10] THE THREE FURLONGERS BY SHEILA KAYE-SMITH AUTHOR OF "SPELL LAND," "ISLE OF THORNS," ETC. There may be hope above, There may be rest beneath; We know not--only Death Is palpable--and love. --DOLBEN. [Illustration: Logo] PHILADELPHIA AND LONDON J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 1914 COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY ISSUED SEPTEMBER, 1914 COPYRIGHT IN GREAT BRITAIN UNDER THE TITLE "THREE AGAINST THE WORLD" PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS PHILADELPHIA, U. S. A. CONTENTS BOOK I THREE AGAINST THE WORLD CHAPTER PAGE I. SPARROW HALL 9 II. SHOVELSTRODE 20 III. IN THE RAIN 31 IV. FATE'S AFTERTHOUGHT 40 V. THE HERO 53 VI. THICK WOODS 63 VII. OVER THE GATES OF PARADISE 75 VIII. BRAMBLETYE 86 IX. SOME PEOPLE ARE HAPPY--IN DIFFERENT WAYS 97 X. TONY BACKS AN OUTSIDER 109 XI. DISILLUSION AT SIXTEEN 122 XII. CHILDREN DANCING IN THE DUSK 135 XIII. KEEPING CHRISTMAS 145 XIV. WOODS AT DAWN 161 XV. THE SERMON ON FORGIVENESS 173 BOOK II THE WORLD AGAINST THE THREE CHAPTER PAGE I. GLIMPSES AND DREAMS 187 II. THE LETTER THAT DID NOT COME 201 III. ONLY A BOY 213 IV. FLAMES 228 V. COWSANISH 237 VI. AND I ALSO DREAMED 252 VII. WOODS AT NIGHT 259 VIII. VIGIL 268 IX. AND YOU ALSO SAID 280 X. A TOAST 300 BOOK I THREE AGAINST THE WORLD THE THREE FURLONGERS CHAPTER I SPARROW HALL The twilight was dropping over the fields of three counties--Surrey, Kent and Sussex--all touching in the woods round Sparrow Hall. In the sky above and in the fields below lights were creeping out one by one. The Great Wain lit up over Cansiron, just as the farmer's wife set the lamp in the window of Anstiel, and the lights of Dorman's Land were like a reflection of the Pleiades above them.