Mr. Standfast

The Wicket-Gate I spent one-third of my journey looking out of the window of a first-class carriage, the next in a local motor-car following the course of a trout stream in a shal...

“The Village Named Morality” Up on the high veld our rivers are apt to be strings of pools linked by muddy trickles—the most stagnant kind of watercourse you would look for in a d...

The Reflections of a Cured Dyspeptic Thirty-five hours later I found myself in my rooms in Westminster. I thought there might be a message for me there, for I didn’t propose to go...

Andrew Amos I took the train three days later from King’s Cross to Edinburgh. I went to the Pentland Hotel in Princes Street and left there a suit-case containing some clean linen...

Various Doings in the West The _Tobermory_ was no ship for passengers. Its decks were littered with a hundred oddments, so that a man could barely walk a step without tacking, and...

Prince landed and where he left for France. “So far as I can make out that won’t take me into the passport country, but I’ll have to do a bit of footslogging. Well, I’m used to pad...

The Skirts of the Coolin Obviously I must keep away from the railway. If the police were after me in Morvern, that line would be warned, for it was a barrier I must cross if I wer...

I Hear of the Wild Birds I saw an old green felt hat, and below it lean tweed-clad shoulders. Then I saw a knapsack with a stick slung through it, as the owner wriggled his way on...

The Adventures of a Bagman “Ye’re punctual to time, Mr Brand,” said the voice of Amos. “But losh! man, what have ye done to your breeks! And your buits? Ye’re no just very respect...

I Take the Wings of a Dove “Drive me somewhere to breakfast, Archie,” I said, “for I’m perishing hungry.” He and I got into the tonneau, and the driver swung us out of the statio...

The Advantages of an Air Raid The train was abominably late. It was due at eight-twenty-seven, but it was nearly ten when we reached St Pancras. I had resolved to go straight to m...

The Valley of Humiliation I collected some baggage and a pile of newly arrived letters from my rooms in Westminster and took a taxi to my Park Lane flat. Usually I had gone back t...

I Become a Combatant Once More I returned to France on 13 September, and took over my old brigade on the 19th of the same month. We were shoved in at the Polygon Wood on the 26th,...

The Adventure of the Picardy Château I looked up Eaucourt Sainte-Anne on the map, and the more I studied its position the less I liked it. It was the knot from which sprang all th...

Mr Blenkiron Discourses on Love and War Three days later I got my orders to report at Paris for special service. They came none too soon, for I chafed at each hour’s delay. Every ...

St Anton Ten days later the porter Joseph Zimmer of Arosa, clad in the tough and shapeless trousers of his class, but sporting an old velveteen shooting-coat bequeathed to him by ...

I Lie on a Hard Bed The journalist from Kansas City was a man of action. He wasted no words in introducing himself or unfolding his plan of campaign. “You’ve got to follow me, mis...

The Col of the Swallows He pointed to the slip on the table. “You have seen the orders?” I nodded. “The long day’s work is over. You must rejoice, for your part has been the ha...

The Underground Railway This is the story which I heard later from Mary.... She was at Milan with the new Anglo-American hospital when she got Blenkiron’s letter. Santa Chiara ha...

The Cage of the Wild Birds “Why, Mr Ivery, come right in,” said the voice at the table. There was a screen before me, stretching from the fireplace to keep off the draught from th...

The Storm Breaks in the West The following evening—it was the 20th day of March—I started for France after the dark fell. I drove Ivery’s big closed car, and within sat its owner,...

How an Exile Returned to His Own People Next morning I found the Army Commander on his way to Doullens. “Take over the division?” he said. “Certainly. I’m afraid there isn’t much...

The Summons Comes for Mr Standfast I slept for one and three-quarter hours that night, and when I awoke I seemed to emerge from deeps of slumber which had lasted for days. That ha...