THE GREEN MOUSE
By
ROBERT W. CHAMBERS
ILLUSTRATED IN COLOR BY
EDMUND FREDERICK
1910
TO
MY FRIEND
JOHN CORBIN
Folly and Wisdom, Heavenly twins,
Sons of the god Imagination,
Heirs of the Virtues--which were Sins
Till Transcendental Contemplation
Transmogrified their outer skins--
Friend, do you follow me? For I
Have lost myself, I don't know why.
Resuming, then, this erudite
And decorative Dedication,--
Accept it, John, with all your might
In Cinquecentic resignation.
You may not understand it, quite,
But if you've followed me all through,
You've done far more than I could do.
PREFACE
To the literary, literal, and scientific mind
purposeless fiction is abhorrent. Fortunately we all are literally
and scientifically inclined; the doom of purposeless fiction
is sounded; and it is a great comfort to believe that, in
the near future, only literary and scientific works suitable
for man, woman, child, and suffragette, are to adorn the lingerie-laden
counters in our great department shops.
It is, then,
with animation and confidence that the author politely offers
to a regenerated nation this modern, moral, literary, and
highly scientific work, thinly but ineffectually disguised
as fiction, in deference to the prejudices of a few old-fashioned
story-readers who still survive among us.
R. W. C.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I.
An Idyl of the Idle
II. The
Idler
III. The Green
Mouse
IV. An
Ideal Idol
V.
Sacharissa
VI. In
Wrong
VII. The Invisible
Wire
VIII. "In Heaven and
Earth"
IX. A Cross-town
Car
X.
The Lid Off
XI. Betty
XII. Sybilla
XIII. The Crown Prince
XIV. Gentlemen
of the Press
XV. Drusilla
XVI. Flavilla
Other Books By R. W. Chambers
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
"She almost wished some fisherman
might come into view"
"'Those squirrels are very tame,' she observed
calmly"
"'Are you not terribly impatient?' she inquired"
"The lid of the basket tilted a little.... Then
a plaintive voice said 'Meow-w!'"
"'I'm afraid,' he ventured, 'that I may require
that table for cutting'"
"'Perhaps,' he said, 'I had better hold your
pencil again'"
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