Produced by Al Haines. THE WILLING HORSE _A Novel_ BY IAN HAY AUTHOR OF "A MAN’S MAN," "A SAFETY MATCH," "THE RIGHT STUFF," "THE FIRST HUNDRED THOUSAND," ETC. BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY The Riverside Press Cambridge 1921 COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY IAN HAY BEITH ALL RIGHTS RESERVED TO H. M. B. *TO THE READER* One is informed that novels touching upon the war are no longer read. This, if true, reduces the novelist to the following alternatives: (1) Writing a novel of some period of the world’s history antecedent to the year nineteen-fourteen. This is undoubtedly a wide field—the Christian era alone covers twenty centuries—but it has been cultivated by several writers already. (2) Writing a post-war novel in which it is assumed that the war never happened. This would make it rather difficult to know what to do with the graves of our dead. (3) Writing a post-war novel about people who took no part in the war. This would restrict one’s choice of hero, heroine, and characters generally to Certified Lunatics, Convicts in residence, and Conscientious Objectors. I have therefore decided to take a chance. The tale which follows is based: (_a_) Upon a frank admission that there has been a war. (_b_) Upon a humble belief that the people chiefly worth writing about in these days are those who gave body, soul—everything—to win that war. That explains my choice of title. *CONTENTS* I. The Valleys Stand so Thick with Corn II. Rebellious Marjorie III. Der Tag IV. A Tryst V. The Inevitable VI. Solo VII. Duet VIII. Chorus IX. The Book of the Words X. Discipline! Discipline! Discipline! XI. Enfin! XII. Tom Birnie XIII. Albert Clegg XIV. Two Sparrows XV. The Explorer XVI. The Great Pretend XVII. The Undefeated XVIII. The Old Order XIX. The Last Throw XX. Fountain Keep XXI. Identities XXII. The Mills of God XXIII. The Soul of Eric Bethune XXIV. Through *THE WILLING HORSE* *CHAPTER I* *THE VALLEYS STAND SO THICK WITH CORN* *I* A Sunday at Baronrigg is a chastening experience. It is not exactly a day of wrath—though one feels that it might easily become one—but it is a time of tribulation for people who do not want to go to church—or, if the worst happens, prefer their religious exercises to be brief and dilute.