THOSE BARREN LEAVES ───────────── ALDOUS HUXLEY ------------------------------------------------------------------------ BY THE SAME AUTHOR ────────────────────── THOSE BARREN LEAVES YOUNG ARCHIMEDES: AND OTHER STORIES ANTIC HAY ON THE MARGIN MORTAL COILS CROME YELLOW LIMBO LEDA: AND OTHER POEMS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THOSE BARREN LEAVES ------------------------------------ BY ALDOUS HUXLEY NEW [GHD] YORK GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY ------------------------------------------------------------------------ COPYRIGHT, 1925, BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY THOSE BARREN LEAVES —B— PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTS PART PAGE I: AN EVENING AT MRS. ALDWINKLE’S 9 II: FRAGMENTS FROM THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF FRANCIS CHELIFER 93 III: THE LOVES OF THE PARALLELS 187 IV: THE JOURNEY 289 V: CONCLUSIONS 359 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PART I: AN EVENING AT MRS. ALDWINKLE’S ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THOSE BARREN LEAVES PART I: An Evening at Mrs. Aldwinkle’s CHAPTER I The little town of Vezza stands at the confluence of two torrents that come down in two deep valleys from the Apuan mountains. Turbulently—for they still remember their mountain source—the united streams run through the town; silence in Vezza is the continuous sound of running waters. Then, gradually, the little river changes its character; the valley broadens out, soon the hills are left behind and the waters, grown placid as a Dutch canal, glide slowly through the meadows of the coastal plain and mingle with the tideless Mediterranean.