BY
WILLIAM J. LOCKE
AUTHOR OF "THE ROUGH ROAD," "THE RED PLANET,"
"THE WONDERFUL YEAR," "THE BELOVED VAGABOND," ETC.
NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY
LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD
TORONTO: S. B. GUNDY
MCMXIX
COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY
JOHN LANE COMPANY
THE PLIMPTON PRESS
NORWOOD, MASS. U.S.A.
TO THE READER
DEAR SIR OR MADAM:—
Good wine needs no bush, but a collection of mixed vintagesdoes. And this book is just such a collection. Some of thestories I do not want to remain buried for ever in the museumfiles of dead magazine-numbers—an author's notunpardonable vanity; others I have resuscitated from the samevaults in the hope that they still may please you.
The title of a volume of short stories is always a difficultmatter. It ought to indicate frankly the nature of the bookso that the unwary purchaser shall have no grievance (excepton the score of merit, which is a different affair altogether)against either author or publisher. In my title I have triedto solve the problem. But why "Far-away?" Well, thestories cover a long stretch of years, and all, save one, werewritten in calm days far-away from the present convulsionof the world.
Anyhow, no one will buy the book under the impressionthat it is a novel, and, finding that it isn't, revile me as acheat. And so I have the pleasure of offering it for yourperusal with a clear conscience.
You, Dear Sir or Madam, have given me, this many ayear, an indulgence beyond my deserts. Till now, I havehad no opportunity of thanking you. I do now with a gratefulheart, and to you I dedicate the two stories that I lovethe best, hoping that they may excuse those for which youmay not so much care, and that they may win continuanceof that which is to me, both as a writer and as a humanbeing, my most cherished possession, namely, yourfavourable regard for
Your most humble and obedient Servant to command,
W. J. LOCKE
June, 1919
CONTENTS
STUDIES IN BLINDNESS
I. AN OLD-WORLD EPISODE
II. THE CONQUEROR
III. A LOVER'S DILEMMA
IV. A WOMAN OF THE WAR
Non cuivis homini contingit adire Corinthum.It is not everybody's good fortune to go toCorinth. It is also not everybody's goodfortune to go to Peckham—still less to live there.But if you were one of the favoured few, and werewont to haunt the Peckham Road and High Street,the bent figure of Angelo Fardetti would have beenas familiar to you as the vast frontage of the greatEmporium which, in the drapery world, makesPeckham illustrious among London suburbs. You wouldhave seen him h