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LONDON: T.C. & E.C. JACK LTD.67 LONG ACRE, W.C., AND EDINBURGH
1916
The quotation that speaks of "Old, unhappy, far-off things, and battleslong ago," has grown now to be hackneyed. Yet, are not they those "old,unhappy, far-off things" that lure us back from a very commonplace andutilitarian present, and cause us to cling to the romance of storiesthat are well-nigh forgotten?
In these days of rushing railway journeys, of motor cars, telegrams,telephones, and aeroplanes, we are apt to lose sight of the tales ofmore leisurely times, when lumbering stage-coaches and relays of willinghorses were our only means of transit from one kingdom to the other.
Because the "long ago" means to us so infinitely valuable a possession,we have striven to preserve in print a few of the stories that stillremain—flotsam and jetsam saved from the cruel rush of an overwhelmingtide.
One or two of the tales in this volume are perhaps not quite so familiaras is the average Border story, and some may contain less of violenceand of bloodshed than is common. Yet it must be owned that it is no easytask to divorce the Border from its wedded mate, violence.
Among the old castles and peel towers of the Border, there are few towhich some tale or other of the supernatural does not attach itself. Itmay be a legend of buried treasure, watched over by