Chapter I: Front Matter

THE MASTER-GIRL

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

MEMOIRS OF A PERSON OF QUALITY AS IT HAPPENED AN OLD SCORE THE MISTAKES OF MISS MANISTY

THE MASTER-GIRL

BY ASHTON HILLIERS

WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS BY ARTHUR H. BUCKLAND

SECOND EDITION

METHUEN & CO, LTD. 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON

_First Published_ _April 28th 1910_ _Second Edition_ _1910_

TO MY CAVE MOTHER

Quarried from world-old gloom,
Yellow, brittle and dry,
Here, in our Science-Room,
Locked under glass they lie;
Bone to its bone brought nigh,
Bare to general view,
Bones that of yore were--you!
_And, bone of your bone am I!_

Nature her course has changed,
The sea-worm's lair is dry,
Your moon aloof, estranged,
Stares from an alien sky,
Levelled are low and high,
Mountains have rumbled down,
Here is a gas-lit town,
_But bone of your bone am I._

Lords of the wild who reigned
By fear of fang and eye,
Antlered, tusked and maned,
Under the ooze they lie.
Mute is their hunting cry,
Their forests fall'n and gone,
Yet, the Soul that was you lives on,
_And, bone of your bone am I._

Bend from your cavern-crypt,
Mother, a kindling eye,
Breathe thro' my manuscript
Strength of a day long by;
Colour, vitality,
Passion and laughter give!
Till the story's dry bones live,
For--_bone of your bone am I_!

A.H.

CONTENTS

PAGE

Prologue 1

CHAP.

I. Love at First Sight 17

II. A Housekeeping 33

III. The Ghost-Bear 64

IV. Hard Need Mother of Invention 81

V. The Testing of the New Thing 110

VI. Renunciations 151

VII. Short, somewhat Dry, but Important 162

VIII. The Flitting, and the Forerunner 169

IX. The Home-coming 200

X. The Spear-Throwing 218

XI. The Passing of the Master-Girl 270

Epilogue 293

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Love at First Sight _Frontispiece_

_Facing page_

The Ghost-Bear 64

Salving the Ghost-Bear's Skin 100

He threw short with a Gasp 122

Stale-mate 144

Pursued 169

The Forerunner 190

Drew Swiftly, and as Swiftly Loosed 256

THE MASTER-GIRL