Chapter I: Front Matter

THE LOST STRADIVARIUS

by

J. MEADE FALKNER

1895

Penguin Books Harmondsworth Middlesex, England 245 Fifth Avenue, New York, U.S.A.

THE AUTHOR

John Meade Falkner was a remarkable character, as he was not only a scholar and a writer, but a captain of industry as well. Born in 1858, the son of a clergyman in Wiltshire, he was educated at Marlborough and Hertford College, Oxford. On leaving the university, he became tutor to the sons of Sir Andrew Noble, then vice-chairman of the Armstrong-Whitworth Company; and his ability so much impressed his employer that in 1885 he was offered a post in the firm. Without connections or influence in industrial circles, and solely by his intellect, he rose to be a director in 1901, and finally, in 1915, chairman of this enormous business. He was actually chairman during the important years 1915-1920, and remained a director until 1926.

His intellectual energy was so great that throughout his life he found time for scholarship as well as business. He travelled for his firm in Europe and South America; and in the intervals of negotiating with foreign governments studied manuscripts wherever he found a library. His researches in the Vatican Library were of special importance, and in connection with them he received a gold medal from the Pope; he was also decorated by the Italian, Turkish and Japanese governments.

His scholastic interests included archæology, folklore, palæography, mediæval history, architecture and church music; and he was a collector of missals. Towards the end of his life he was made an Honorary Fellow of Hertford College, Oxford, Honorary Reader in Palæography to Durham University, and Honorary Librarian to the Chapter Library of Durham Cathedral, which he left one of the best cathedral libraries in Europe. He died at Durham in 1932.

Apart from _The Lost Stradivarius_, Falkner was the author of two other novels, _The Nebuly Coat_ (1903--also published in Penguin Books) and _Moonfleet_ (1898). He also wrote a History of Oxfordshire, handbooks to that county and to Berkshire, historical short stories, and some mediævalist verse.

THE LOST STRADIVARIUS

Letter from MISS SOPHIA MALTRAVERS
to her Nephew, SIR EDWARD MALTRAVERS,
then a Student at Christ Church, Oxford.

13 Pauncefort Buildings, Bath,
Oct. 21, 1867.

MY DEAR EDWARD,

It was your late father's dying request that certain events which
occurred in his last years should be communicated to you on your coming
of age. I have reduced them to writing, partly from my own recollection,
which is, alas! still too vivid, and partly with the aid of notes taken
at the time of my brother's death. As you are now of full age, I submit
the narrative to you. Much of it has necessarily been exceedingly
painful to me to write, but at the same time I feel it is better that
you should hear the truth from me than garbled stories from others who
did not love your father as I did.

Your loving Aunt,
SOPHIA MALTRAVERS

To Sir Edward Maltravers, Bart.

"A tale out of season is as music in mourning."
--ECCLESIASTICUS xxii. 6.

MISS SOPHIA MALTRAVERS' STORY