PG EDITOR’S NOTE: The slang is now, alas, over ninety years old. It now sounds even more stilted than the classical language does. On the other hand, after having read it, almost any one will be likely to imagine that a novel with so startling a heroine and with incidents so bizarre cannot possibly be based on any sound and genuine knowledge of its background; that the author has conjured out of his fantasy not only his plot and chief characters, but also their world; that he has created out and out not merely his Vestal, but his Vestals, their circumstances and the life which they are represented as leading: that he has manufactured his local color to suit as he went along. Nothing could be further from the actuality. The details of rule and ritual, of dress and duties, of privileges and punishments are set forth in accordance with a full first-hand and intimate acquaintance with all available evidence touching the Vestals; including all known inscriptions relating to them, every passage in Roman or Greek literature in any way concerning them, the inferences drawn from all existing or recorded sculptures and coins which add to our knowledge of them, and every treatise written since the revival of learning in Europe in which the Vestals are discussed. The story contains no preposterous anachronisms or fatuous absurdities. Throughout, it either embodies the known facts or is invented in conformity with the known facts. Any one to whom chapter twenty-one seems incredible should consult an adequate encyclopedia article or an authoritative treatise on physics and read up on the surface tension of liquids. LIST OF CONTENTS Book I The Rage of Disappointment I. Precocity II. Sieves III. Stutterings IV. Pestilence V. Escapades VI. Notoriety VII. Audience Book II The Revolt of Despondency VIII. Scourging IX. Alarms X. Conference XI. Farewell XII. Observances XIII. Perversity XIV. Amazement Book III The Rebellion of Desperation XV. Rehabilitation XVI. Vagary XVII. Recklessness XVIII. Fury XIX. Comfort Book IV The Revulsion of Delight XX. Accusation XXI. Ordeal XXII Triumph XXII. Salvage BOOK I--THE RAGE OF DISAPPOINTMENT CHAPTER I - PRECOCITY “Brinnaria!” he said severely, “you will marry any man I designate.” “I never shall marry any man,” she retorted positively, “except the man I want to marry.”