Chapter I: Front Matter

AT THE SIGN OF THE FOX

AT THE SIGN OF
THE FOX

_A Romance_

BY
BARBARA
AUTHOR OF “THE GARDEN OF A COMMUTER’S WIFE,”
“PEOPLE OF THE WHIRLPOOL,” AND
“THE WOMAN ERRANT”

NEW YORK
HURST & CO.
PUBLISHERS

COPYRIGHT, 1905,
BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.

Set up and electrotyped. Published July, 1905.
Reprinted August, September, December, 1905;
March, 1912.

Norwood Press
J. S. Cushing & Co.—Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.

This Book is for the Brave

PRATE NOT TO ME OF WEAKLINGS, WHO
LAMENT THIS LIFE AND NOUGHT ACHIEVE,
I HYMN THE VAST AND VALIANT CREW
OF THOSE WHO HAVE SCANT TIME TO GRIEVE,
FIRM SET THEIR FORTUNES TO RETRIEVE,
THEY SING FOR LUCK A LUSTY STAVE,
THE WORLD’S STANCH WORKERS, BY YOUR LEAVE—
THIS IS THE BALLADE OF THE BRAVE!

—RICHARD BURTON.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE RIVER KINGDOM 1

II. A BELATED FIRST CAUSE 13

III. THE DECISION OF MISS KEITH 25

IV. INTERLUDE 37

V. A PICTURE 49

VI. THE LAWTONS 64

VII. THE DAY AFTER 84

VIII. TRANSITION 101

IX. THE RETURN 125

X. TATTERS TRANSFERS HIMSELF 144

XI. BREAD 170

XII. REVELATION 195

XIII. AT THE SIGN OF THE FOX 219

XIV. THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENS 243

XV. A MASQUE OF SPRING 263

XVI. THE WAY THE WIND BLEW 282

XVII. LOCKS AND KEYS 302

XVIII. THE RETURN OF MEMORY 324

XIX. SETTERS OF SNARES 342

XX. FIRE OF LEAVES 362

THE PEOPLE

BROOKE LAWTON A Young Woman of To-day, who sees Things as they
might be.

ADAM LAWTON Her Father, a Country-bred New Yorker of Affairs.

PAMELA LAWTON Her Mother, a Brooke of Virginia.

ADAM THE CUB Her Brother, at the Difficult Age of Sixteen.

KEITH WEST Adam Lawton’s Maternal Cousin, who stayed at Home.

LUCY DEAN Brooke’s Friend, who sees Things as they are.

MRS. ENOCH FENTON A Cheerful Cripple.

SILENT STEAD Sportsman and Misanthrope.

MARTE LORENZ Idealist and Artist.

TOM BROWNELL Engaged in climbing the Ladder of Journalism from
the Bottom Rung.

HENRY MAARTEN A Farm Hand working on Shares.

DR. RICHARD RUSSELL Of Oaklands, Friend of Stead and the Lawtons, and
Confidant-general of the County.

THE PIEMAN A Travelling Optimist.

TATTERS A Person, though disguised as an Old Collie Dog.

The Usual Critic’s Chorus, composed of Citizens, Villagers,
Male and Female, Commonplace, Eccentric, or Otherwise.

TIME

The Present Century.

PLACE

Manhattan and the Hill Country of the Moosatuk.

AT THE SIGN OF THE FOX