The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wooden Horse, by Hugh Walpole

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Title: The Wooden Horse

Author: Hugh Walpole

Release Date: November 6, 2008 [EBook #27180]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WOODEN HORSE ***

Produced by Al Haines

[Frontispiece: Hugh Walpole. _From a photograph by Messrs. Elliott &
Fry_]

THE

WOODEN HORSE

BY

HUGH WALPOLE

WITH A PORTRAIT

MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED

ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON

1919

MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED

LONDON -- BOMBAY -- CALCUTTA -- MADRAS
MELBOURNE

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

NEW YORK -- BOSTON -- CHICAGO
DALLAS -- SAN FRANCISCO

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD.

TORONTO

COPYRIGHT

_First Published April 1909
Second Impression October 1909
Wayfarers' Library 1914
New Edition 1919_

TO

W. FERRIS

AFFECTIONATELY

"_Er liebte jeden Hund, und wuenschte von jedem Hund geliebt
zu sein._"--FLEGELJAHRE (JEAN PAUL).

CHAPTER I

Robin Trojan was waiting for his father.

Through the open window of the drawing-room came, faintly, the cries of
the town--the sound of some distant bell, the shout of fishermen on the
quay, the muffled beat of the mining-stamps from Porth-Vennic, a
village that lay two miles inland. There yet lingered in the air the
faint afterglow of the sunset, and a few stars, twinkling faintly in
the deep blue of the night sky, seemed reflections of the orange lights
of the herring-boats, flashing far out to sea.

The great drawing-room, lighted by a cluster of electric lamps hanging
from the ceiling, seemed to flaunt the dim twinkle of the stars
contemptuously; the dark blue of the walls and thick Persian carpets
sounded a quieter note, but the general effect was of something
distantly, coldly superior, something indeed that was scarcely
comfortable, but that was, nevertheless, fulfilling the exact purpose
for which it had been intended.

And that purpose was, most certainly, not comfort. Robin himself would
have smiled contemptuously if you had pleaded for something homely,
something suggestive of roa