Please read the Transcriber’s Note at the end of the text.
THE BLACK ARROW
A TALE OF THE TWO ROSES
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
ILLUSTRATED BY N. C. WYETH
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
MCMXXXIII
Copyright, 1916, by
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
Printed in the United States of America
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without
the permission of Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Critic on the Hearth:
No one but myself knows what I have suffered, nor what my bookshave gained, by your unsleeping watchfulness and admirable pertinacity.And now here is a volume that goes into the world and lacks your imprimatur:a strange thing in our joint lives; and the reason of it strangerstill! I have watched with interest, with pain, and at length with amusement,your unavailing attempts to peruse The Black Arrow; and I thinkI should lack humour indeed, if I let the occasion slip and did not placeyour name in the fly-leaf of the only book of mine that you have neverread—and never will read.
That others may display more constancy is still my hope. The talewas written years ago for a particular audience and (I may say) in rivalrywith a particular author; I think I should do well to name him, Mr. AlfredR. Phillips. It was not without its reward at the time. I could not, indeed,displace Mr. Phillips from his well-won priority; but in the eyes ofreaders who thought less than nothing of Treasure Island, The Black Arrowwas supposed to mark a clear advance. Those who read volumes andthose who read story papers belong to different worlds. The verdict onTreasure Island was reversed in the other court; I wonder, will it be thesame with its successor?
R. L. S.
Saranac Lake, April 8, 1888
CONTENTS
Prologue
- John Amend-all 3