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                             FATHERS OF MEN




                         BOOKS BY E. W. HORNUNG

                  PUBLISHED BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

                          _The Raffles Series_

       The Amateur Cracksman.  12mo,                        $1.25
       Raffles. Illustrated.  12mo,                          1.50
       A Thief In the Night. Illustrated,  12mo,             1.50
       Mr. Justice Raffles.  12mo,                           1.50

       Fathers of Men.                               _net_,  1.30
                                                  (postage extra)
       The Camera Fiend. Illustrated.  12mo,         _net_,  1.25
       Stingaree. Illustrated.  12mo,                        1.50
       No Hero.  12mo,                                       1.25
       At Large.  12mo,                                      1.50
       Some Persons Unknown.  12mo,                          1.25
       Young Blood.  12mo,                                   1.25
       My Lord Duke. 12mo,                                   1.25
       A Bride from the Bush.  16mo,                         .75
       The Rogue's March. A Romance.  12mo,                  1.50


                             FATHERS OF MEN




                                   BY
                             E. W. HORNUNG




                                NEW YORK
                        CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
                                  1912




                          COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY
                        CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

                        Published February, 1912




                                CONTENTS

                 CHAPTER                             PAGE
                      I. BEHIND THE SCENES              1
                     II. CHANGE AND CHANCE             11
                    III. VERY RAW MATERIAL             21
                     IV. SETTLING IN                   33
                      V. NICKNAMES                     43
                     VI. BOY TO BOY                    53
                    VII. REASSURANCE                   62
                   VIII. LIKES AND DISLIKES            75
                     IX. CORAM POPULO                  90
                      X. ELEGIACS                     105
                     XI. A MERRY CHRISTMAS            123
                    XII. THE NEW YEAR                 133
                   XIII. THE HAUNTED HOUSE            146
                    XIV. "SUMMER-TERM"                163
                     XV. SPRAWSON'S MASTERPIECE       174
                    XVI. SIMILIA SIMILIBUS            186
                   XVII. THE FUN OF THE FAIR          196
                  XVIII. DARK HORSES                  212
                    XIX. FAME AND FORTUNE             225
                     XX. THE EVE OF OFFICE            240
                    XXI. OUT OF FORM                  250
                   XXII. THE OLD BOYS' MATCH          259
                  XXIII. INTERLUDE IN A STUDY         266
                   XXIV. THE SECOND MORNING'S PLAY    277
                    XXV. INTERLUDE IN THE WOOD        290
                   XXVI. CLOSE OF PLAY                304
                  XXVII. THE EXTREME PENALTY          317
                 XXVIII. "LIKE LUCIFER"               328
                   XXIX. CHIPS AND JAN                336
                    XXX. HIS LAST FLING               349
                   XXXI. VALE                         360




                             FATHERS OF MEN


                               CHAPTER I

                           BEHIND THE SCENES


The two new boys in Heriot's house had been suitably entertained at his
table, and afterwards in his study with bound volumes of _Punch_.
Incidentally they had been encouraged to talk, with the result that one
boy had talked too much, while the other shut a stubborn mouth tighter
than before. The babbler displayed an exuberant knowledge of
contemporary cricket, a more conscious sense of humour, and other little
qualities which told their tale. He opened the door for Miss Heriot
after dinner, and even thanked her for the evening when it came to an
end. His companion, on the other hand, after brooding over Leech and
Tenniel with a sombre eye, beat a boorish retreat without a word.

Heriot saw the pair to the boys' part of the house. He was filling his
pipe when he returned to the medley of books, papers, photographic
appliances, foxes' masks, alpen-stocks and venerable oak, that made his
study a little room in which it was