The Top of the World

The Top of the World

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Title: The Top of the World
Author: Ethel M. Dell
Release Date: May 15, 2004 [EBook #12360]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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Produced by Al Haines

THE TOP OF THE WORLD
By
Ethel M. Dell

Author of "The Way of an Eagle," "The Lamp in the Desert."

1920

I DEDICATE THIS BOOK
TO THE PRECIOUS MEMORY
OF MY MOTHER

"The years shall not outgo my thinking of thee"

When you have reached the top of the world And only the stars remain,
Where there is never the sound of storm And neither cold nor rain, Will
it be by wealth, success, or fame That you mounted to your goal? Nay,
I mount only by faith and love And God's goodness to my soul.
When you have reached the top of the world And the higher stars grow
near, When greater dreams succeed our dreams And the lesser
disappear, Will the world at your feet seem good to you, A vision fair
to see? Nay, I look upward for one I love Who has promised to wait for
me.
For to those who reach the top of the world The things of the world
seem less Than the rungs of the ladder by which they climbed To their
place of happiness, And I think that success and wealth and fame Will
be the first to pall, For they reach their goal but by faith and love And
God's goodness over all.

CONTENTS

PART I
CHAPTER
I.--ADVICE II.--THE NEW MISTRESS III.--THE WHIP-HAND
IV.--THE VICTORY V.--THE MIRACLE VI.--THE LAND OF
STRANGERS VII.--THE WRONG TURNING VIII.--THE
COMRADE IX.--THE ARRIVAL X.--THE DREAM XI.--THE
CROSS-ROADS XII.--THE STAKE
PART 11
I.--COMRADES II.--THE VISITORS III.--THE BARGAIN IV.--THE
CAPTURE V.--THE GOOD CAUSE VI.--THE RETURN VII.--THE
GUEST VIII.--THE INTERRUPTION IX.--THE ABYSS X.--THE
DESIRE TO LIVE XI.--THE REMEDY

PART III
I.--THE NEW ERA II.--INTO BATTLE III.--THE SEED
IV.--MIRAGE V.--EVERYBODY'S FRIEND VI.--THE HERO
VII.--THE NET VIII.--THE SUMMONS IX.--FOR THE SAKE OF
THE OLD LOVE X.--THE BEARER OF EVIL TIDINGS XI.--THE
SHARP CORNER XII.--THE COST

PART IV
I.--SAND OF THE DESERT II.--THE SKELETON TREE III.--THE
PUNISHMENT IV.--THE EVIL THING V.--THE LAND OF
BLASTED HOPES VI.--THE PARTING VII.--PIET VREIBOOM
VIII.--OUT OF THE DEPTHS IX.--THE MEETING X.--THE TRUTH
XI.--THE STORM XII.--THE SACRIFICE XIII.--BY FAITH AND
LOVE

The Top of the World

CHAPTER I
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PART I

CHAPTER I
ADVICE
"You ought to get married, Miss Sylvia," said old Jeffcott, the head
gardener, with a wag of his hoary beard. "You'll need to be your own

mistress now."
"I should hope I am that anyway," said, Sylvia with a little laugh.
She stood in the great vinery--a vivid picture against a background of
clustering purple fruit. The sunset glinted on her tawny hair. Her
red-brown eyes, set wide apart, held a curious look, half indignant, half
appealing.
Old Jeffcott surveyed her with loving admiration. There was no one in
the world to compare with Miss Sylvia in his opinion. He loved the
open English courage of her, the high, inborn pride of race. Yet at the
end of the survey he shook his head.
"There's not room for two mistresses in this establishment, Miss
Sylvia," he said wisely. "Three years to have been on your own, so to
speak, is too long. You did ought to get married, Miss Sylvia. You'll
find it's the only way."
His voice took on almost a pleading note. He knew it was possible to
go too far.
But the girl facing him was still laughing. She evidently felt no
resentment.
"You see, Jeffcott," she said, "there's only one man in the world I could
marry. And he's not ready for me yet."
Jeffcott wagged his beard again commiseratingly. "So you've never got
over it, Miss Sylvia? Your feelings is still the same--after five years?"
"Still the same," said Sylvia. There was a momentary challenge in her
bright eyes, but it passed. "It couldn't be any different," she said softly.
"No one else could ever come anywhere near him."
Jeffcott sighed aloud. "I know he were a nice young gentleman," he
conceded. "But I've seen lots as good before and since. He weren't
nothing so very extraordinary, Miss Sylvia."

Sylvia's look went beyond him, seeming to rest upon something very
far away. "He was to me, Jeffcott," she said. "We just--fitted each other,
he and