Chapter 1

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_Title:_ Seven for a Secret
_Date of first publication:_ 1922
_Author:_ Mary Webb (1881-1927)
_Date first posted:_ Feb. 10, 2018
_Date last updated:_ Feb. 10, 2018
Faded Page eBook #20180214

This ebook was produced by: Al Haines, Jen Haines & the online
Distributed Proofreaders Canada team at http://www.pgdpcanada.net

[Cover Illustration]

Uniform with this volume

★

GONE TO EARTH
PRECIOUS BANE
THE GOLDEN ARROW
POEMS
THE HOUSE IN DORMER FOREST
ARMOUR WHEREIN HE TRUSTED

MARY WEBB

★

SEVEN FOR A SECRET
A LOVE STORY

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
ROBERT LYND

[Illustration]

LONDON
JONATHAN CAPE 30 BEDFORD SQUARE

FIRST PUBLISHED OCTOBER MCMXXII
COLLECTED EDITION MCMXXVIII
SECOND IMPRESSION OCTOBER MCMXXVIII
THIRD IMPRESSION JANUARY MCMXXIX
FOURTH IMPRESSION APRIL MCMXXIX
FIFTH IMPRESSION SEPTEMBER MCMXXIX
SIXTH IMPRESSION MAY MCMXXX

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY
BUTLER & TANNER LTD
FROME

TO THE ILLUSTRIOUS NAME

OF

THOMAS HARDY,

WHOSE ACCEPTANCE OF THIS DEDICATION

HAS MADE ME SO HAPPY

I saw seven magpies in a tree,
One for you and six for me.
One for sorrow,
Two for joy,
Three for a girl,
Four for a boy,
Five for silver,
Six for gold,
Seven for a secret
That’s never been told.
_Old Rhyme_

_Contents_

CHAP. PAGE
I GILLIAN LOVEKIN 17
II ROBERT RIDEOUT 28
III AUNT FANTEAGUE ARRIVES 34
IV GILLIAN ASKS FOR A KISS 48
V ROBERT WRITES TWO LETTERS 61
VI TEA AT THE JUNCTION 73
VII GILLIAN COMES TO SILVERTON 84
VIII GILLIAN MEETS MR. GENTLE 97
IX THE HARPER’S FORGE 103
X THE BURNING HEART 111
XI ISAIAH ASKS A QUESTION 125
XII AT THE SIGN OF THE MAIDEN 132
XIII ROBERT SAYS ‘NO’ 145
XIV ‘DAGGLY WEATHER’ 153
XV ISAIAH HEARS A BELOWNDER 160
XVI RALPH ELMER COMES TO DINNER 170
XVII TEA FOR FOUR AT THE ‘MERMAID’S REST’ 179
XVIII THE GIFTS OF RALPH ELMER TO GILLIAN LOVEKIN 193
XIX BLOOM IN THE ORCHARD 206
XX ROBERT PLEACHES THE THORN HEDGE 213
XXI BRIAR ROSES 219
XXII WEEPING CROSS 229
XXIII ISAIAH SAYS ‘HA!’ 236
XXIV A HANK OF FAERY WOOL 243
XXV THE BRIDE COMES HOME 253
XXVI A B C AT THE SIGN OF THE MAIDEN 259
XXVII ‘IN A DREAM SHE CRADLED ME’ 267
XXVIII FRINGAL FORGETS TO LAUGH 279
XXIX SNOW IN THE LITTLE GYLAND 294
XXX ROBERT AWAITS THE DAWN 301
XXXI ‘NOW WHAT BE TROUBLING THEE?’ 308
XXXII ‘SEVEN FOR A SECRET THAT’S NEVER BEEN TOLD’ 318

_Introduction_

MARY WEBB had that always fascinating quality of genius—imaginative
energy. It is a quality so precious that, when an author possesses it,
the waves of criticism beat against his work in vain. It appears in a
hundred different forms, and is the immortal soul alike of the romances
of Dumas, the seventy-times-seven-to-be-forgiven, as Henley called him,
and of the novels of Victor Hugo, who needs our forgiveness even more
often. Dickens, possessing it, made us believe in the existence of a
vast population of men and women in whom we should have believed under
no other compulsion, and Hans Andersen, possessing it, endowed a tin
soldier with greater reality for us than the thirty tyrants of Athens.
Spellbound by it, we accept Emily Brontë’s vision of life in _Wuthering
Heights_. There are other qualities as enchanting in literature—wisdom,
humour, and observation without fear or favour—but there is no other
quality that, by itself, exercises such power over us.