The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Cottage of Delight, by Will N. Harben

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Title: The Cottage of Delight
A Novel

Author: Will N. Harben

Release Date: September 12, 2010 [EBook #33715]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE COTTAGE OF DELIGHT

BOOKS BY
WILL N. HARBEN

THE COTTAGE OF DELIGHT
THE HILLS OF REFUGE
THE TRIUMPH
ABNER DANIEL
ANN BOYD
THE DESIRED WOMAN
DIXIE HART
THE GEORGIANS
GILBERT NEAL
THE INNER LAW
JANE DAWSON
KENNETH GALT
MAM' LINDA
THE NEW CLARION
PAUL RUNDEL
POLE BAKER
SECOND CHOICE
THE SUBSTITUTE
WESTERFELT

* * * * *

HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK
[ESTABLISHED 1817]

[Illustration]

THE COTTAGE OF DELIGHT

A NOVEL

BY

WILL N. HARBEN

_Author of "Ann Boyd," "Abner Daniel,"
"The Triumph," "The Hills of Judgment," etc._

[Illustration]

HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
NEW YORK AND LONDON

Copyright 1919, by Harper & Brothers

PART I

CHAPTER I

John Trott waked that morning at five o'clock. Whether it was due to the
mere habit of a working-man or the blowing of the hoarse and mellow
whistle at the great cotton-mills beyond the low, undulating hills
half a mile away he did not know, but for several years the whistle
had been his summons from a state of dead slumber to a day of toil.
The morning was cloudy and dark, so he lighted a dingy oil-lamp with a
cracked and smoked chimney, and in its dim glow drew on his coarse
lime-and-mortar-splotched shirt and overalls. The cheap cotton socks he
put on had holes at the heels and toes; his leather belt had broken and
was tied with a piece of twine; his shoes were quite new and furnished
an odd contrast to the rest of his attire.

He was young, under twenty, and rather tall. He was slender, but his
frame was sinewy. He had no beard as yet, and his tanned face was
covered with down. His hair was coarse and had a tendency t