The Keeper of the Door

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Keeper of the Door, The

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Keeper of the Door, by Ethel M. Dell This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: The Keeper of the Door
Author: Ethel M. Dell
Release Date: February 10, 2005 [EBook #15013]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE KEEPER OF THE DOOR
By ETHEL M. DELL
AUTHOR OF "The Way of an Eagle," "The Knave of Diamonds," "The Rocks of Valpre," Etc.
A.L. BURT COMPANY
Publishers New York
Published by Arrangements with G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS, 1915
BY
ETHEL M. DELL
Fourth Impression
BY ETHEL M. DELL
The Way of an Eagle The Knave of Diamonds The Rocks of Valpré The Swindler The Keeper of the Door Bars of Iron Rosa Mundi The Obstacle Race Tetherstones The Passerby and Other Stories The Hundredth Chance The Safety Curtain Greatheart The Lamp in the Desert The Tidal Wave The Top of the World The Odds and Other Stories Charles Rex The Unknown Quantity A Man Under Authority
This edition is issued under arrangement with the publishers G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS, NEW YORK AND LONDON
The Knickerbocker Press, New York Made in the United States of America

I DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO THE DEAR MEMORY OF ONE WHO WAITS BEYOND THE DOOR FOR THOSE HE LOVES
"And the keepers before the door kept the prison."
_Acts xii. 6._
"A deep below the deep And a height beyond the height! Our hearing is not hearing, And our seeing is not sight."
_The Voice and the Peak._
ALFRED TENNYSON.

CONTENTS
PART ONE
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE LESSON 1
II. THE ALLY 16
III. THE OBSTACLE 27
IV. THE SETTING OF THE WATCH 37
V. THE CHAPERON 47
VI. THE PAIN-KILLER 62
VII. THE PUZZLE 74
VIII. THE ELASTIC BOND 86
IX. THE PROJECT 97
X. THE DOOR 108
XI. THE IMPOSSIBLE 120
XII. THE PAL 129
XIII. HER FATE 149
XIV. THE DARK HOUR 155
XV. THE AWAKENING 167
XVI. SECRETS 177
XVII. THE VERDICT 189
XVIII. SOMETHING LOST 198
XIX. THE REVELATION 205
XX. THE SEARCH 217
XXI. ON THE BRINK 228
XXII. OVER THE EDGE 235
XXIII. AS GOOD AS DEAD 243
XXIV. THE OPENING OF THE DOOR 252
XXV. THE PRICE 264
PART TWO I. COURTSHIP 281
II. THE SELF-INVITED GUEST 287
III. THE NEW LIFE 297
IV. THE PHANTOM 305
V. THE EVERLASTING CHAIN 317
VI. CHRISTMAS MORNING 327
VII. THE WILDERNESS OF NASTY POSSIBILITIES 340
VIII. THE SOUL OF A HERO 350
IX. THE MAN WITH THE GUN 357
X. A TALK IN THE OPEN 367
XI. THE FAITHFUL WOUND OF A FRIEND 376
XII. A LETTER FROM AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE 390
XIII. A WOMAN'S PREJUDICE 403
XIV. SMOKE FROM THE FIRE 414
XV. THE SPREADING OF THE FLAME 426
XVI. THE GAP 437
XVII. THE EASIEST COURSE 452
XVIII. ONE MAN'S LOSS 462
XIX. A FIGHT WITHOUT A FINISH 472
XX. THE POWER OF THE ENEMY 487
XXI. THE GATHERING STORM 503
XXII. THE REPRIEVE 510
XXIII. THE GIFT OF THE RAJAH 518
XXIV. THE BIG, BIG GAME OF LIFE 528
XXV. MEMORIES THAT HURT 537
XXVI. A FOOL'S ERRAND 548
XXVII. LOVE MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE 556
XXVIII. A SOLDIER AND A GENTLEMAN 570
XXIX. THE MAN'S POINT OF VIEW 578
XXX. THE LINE OF RETREAT 588


CHAPTER I
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PART I
CHAPTER I
THE LESSON
"Then he's such a prig!" said Olga.
"You should never use a word you can't define," observed Nick, from the depths of the hammock in which his meagre person reposed at length.
She made a face at him, and gave the hammock a vicious twitch which caused him to rock with some violence for several seconds. As he was wont pathetically to remark, everyone bullied him because he was small and possessed only one arm, having shed the other by inadvertence somewhere on the borders of the Indian Empire.
Certainly Olga--his half-brother's eldest child--treated him with scant respect, though she never allowed anyone else to be other than polite to him in her hearing. But then she and Nick had been pals from the beginning of things, and this surely entitled her to a certain licence in her dealings with him. Nick, too, was such a darling; he never minded anything.
Having duly punished him for snubbing her, she returned with serenity to the work upon her lap.
"You see," she remarked thoughtfully, "the worst of it is he really is a bit of a genius. And one can't sit on genius--with comfort. It sort of flames out where you least expect it."
"Highly unpleasant, I should think," agreed Nick.
"Yes; and he has such a disgusting fashion of behaving as if--as if one were miles beneath his notice," proceeded Olga. "And I'm not a chicken, you know, Nick, I'm twenty."
"A vast age!" said Nick.
For which remark she gave him another jerk which set him swinging like a pendulum.
"Well, I've got a little sense anyhow," she remarked.
"But not much," said Nick. "Or you would know that that sort