Chapter I: Front Matter

THE LORDS OF HIGH DECISION

OTHER BOOKS BY

MEREDITH NICHOLSON

The Main Chance
Zelda Dameron
The House of a Thousand Candles
Poems
The Port of Missing Men
Rosalind at Red Gate
The Little Brown Jug at Kildare
The Hoosiers (Historical. In National Studies in American Letters)

The
Lords of High Decision

By

MEREDITH NICHOLSON

_Illustrated by_

_ARTHUR I. KELLER_

New York
Doubleday, Page & Company
1909

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION
INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN

COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
PUBLISHED, OCTOBER, 1909

TO BOWMAN ELDER AND EDWARD ROBINETTE
IN REMEMBRANCE OF OUR CANOE FLIGHT THROUGH THE
MAINE WOODS, WITH A BACKWARD GLANCE
AT INDIAN JOE
WHO FAILED TO FIND THE MOOSE

_Mackinac Island,
September 20, 1909._

And the Fourth Kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron
breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh
all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.

And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and
part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it
of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed
with miry clay.

And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so
the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken.

_The Book of Daniel._

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. The Face in the Locket 3

II. The Lady of Difficult Occasions 21

III. A Letter, a Bottle and an Old Friend 28

IV. The Ways of Wayne Craighill 42

V. A Child of the Iron City 59

VI. Before a Portrait by Sargent 73

VII. Wayne Counsels his Sister 86

VIII. The Coming of Mrs. Craighill 101

IX. “Help Me to be a Good Woman” 114

X. Mr. Walsh Meets Mrs. Craighill 126

XI. Paddock Delivers an Invitation 144

XII. The Shadows Against the Flame 155

XIII. Jean Morley 160

XIV. A Light Supper for Two 175

XV. Mrs. Blair is Displeased 190

XVI. The Trip to Boston 206

XVII. Mrs. Craighill Bides at Home 224

XVIII. The Snow-storm at Rosedale 240

XIX. Mr. Wingfield Calls on Mr. Walsh 262

XX. Evening at the Craighills’ 274

XXI. Soundings in Deep Waters 292

XXII. A Conference at the Allequippa 299

XXIII. The End of a Sleigh-ride 307

XXIV. Jean Answers a Question 317

XXV. Colonel Craighill is Annoyed 327

XXVI. Colonel Craighill Scores a Point 335

XXVII. “I’m Going Back to Joe” 344

XXVIII. Closed Doors 355

XXIX. “You Love Another Man, Jean” 368

XXX. The House of Peace 378

XXXI. Wayne Sees Jean Again 397

XXXII. An Angry Encounter 408

XXXIII. The High Moment of Their Lives 416

XXXIV. The Heart of the Bugle 428

XXXV. Golden Bridge 446

XXXVI. Two Old Friends Seek Wayne 460

XXXVII. Wayne Visits His Father’s House 467

XXXVIII. “They’re Callin’ Strikes on Me” 475

XXXIX. We See Walsh Again 487

XL. The Belated Appearance of John McCandless Blair 493

XLI. “My City--Our City” 498

ILLUSTRATIONS

Jean Morley _Frontispiece_

FACING PAGE

“Men who work with their hands--these things!” 322

“There was a dull sound as of a blow struck” 422

“Ghosts, the ghosts of dead soldiers” 442

THE LORDS OF HIGH DECISION

The Lords of High Decision