The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mummery, by Gilbert Cannan

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Title: Mummery
A Tale of Three Idealists

Author: Gilbert Cannan

Release Date: July 23, 2009 [EBook #29500]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MUMMERY ***

Produced by Al Haines

MUMMERY

A TALE OF THREE IDEALISTS

BY

GILBERT CANNAN

LONDON: 48 PALL MALL

W. COLLINS SONS & CO. LTD.

GLASGOW -- MELBOURNE -- AUCKLAND

Copyright 1918

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

NOVELS

PETER HOMUNCULUS
LITTLE BROTHER
ROUND THE CORNER
OLD MOLE
YOUNG EARNEST
THREE PRETTY MEN
MENDEL
THE STUCCO HOUSE
PINK ROSES

FOUR PLAYS
EVERYBODY'S HUSBAND

WINDMILLS
SATIRE
THE JOY OF THE THEATRE
FREEDOM
THE ANATOMY OF SOCIETY
NOEL
POEMS

TO ARIEL

AMY GWEN WILSON

Shakespeare dreamed you, Ariel,
In a poet's ecstasy.
I have loved and dare not tell
Of your being's mystery.

Ariel, from Shakespeare's dream
Flown into my love on earth,
You shall help me to redeem
Love and truth denied their birth.

In a world by Caliban
Brutalised and done to death,
We will weave a spell that Man
May in freedom draw his breath.

CONTENTS

CHAP.

I. A DESCENT ON LONDON
II. THE DWELLERS IN ENCHANTMENT
III. IMPERIUM
IV. BEHIND THE SCENES
V. THE OTHER WOMAN
VI. BIRDS AND FISHES
VII. SUPPER
VIII. SOLITUDE
IX. MAGIC
X. THE ENGLISH LAKES
XI. CHARING CROSS ROAD
XII. RODD AT HOME
XIII. THE TEMPEST
XIV. VERSCHOYLE FORGETS HIMSELF
XV. IN BLOOMSBURY
XVI. ARIEL
XVII. SUCCESS
XVIII. LOVE

I

A DESCENT ON LONDON

On a day in August, in one of those swiftly-moving years which hurried
Europe towards the catastrophe awaiting it, there arrived in London a
couple of unusual appearance, striking, charming, and amusing. The man
was tall, big, and queerly compounded of sensitive beauty and stodgy
awkwardness. He entered London with an air of hostility; sniffed
distastefully the smells of the station, peered in distress through the
murky light, an