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Transcriber's note:

      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).





THE SECRET LIFE

Being the Book of a Heretic


   "Prove all things: hold fast that which is good."

   _St. Paul, 1 Thessalonians v. 21._

   "Ici l'on voulut que tout fut simple, tranquille, sans ostentation
   d'esprit ni de science, que personne ne se crut engage a avoir
   raison, et que l'on fut toujours en etat de ceder sans honte,
   surtout qu'aucun systeme ne dominat dans l'Academie a l'exclusion
   des autres, et qu'on laissat toujours toutes les portes ouvert a
   la verite."     _Fontenelle._







London: John Lane, The Bodley Head
New York: John Lane Company. MDCCCCVII

Copyright, 1906
By John Lane Company




CONTENTS

                                    PAGE
 L'Enfant Terrible                     1

 An Optimistic Cynic                   7

 A Poet Sheep-rancher                 10

 An Eaten Cake                        13

 Concerning Elbows on the Table       16

 An Autumn Impulse                    17

 John-a'-Dreams                       19

 The Fountain of Salmacis             41

 Two Siegfrieds                       44

 A Door Ajar                          47

 At Time of