1
Old Fires and Profitable Ghosts, by A. T.
The Project Gutenberg eBook, Old Fires and Profitable Ghosts, by A. T. Quiller-Couch
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: Old Fires and Profitable Ghosts
Author: A. T. Quiller-Couch
Release Date: October 19, 2004 [eBook #13799] [Most recently updated October 23, 2006]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD FIRES AND PROFITABLE GHOSTS***
E-text prepared by Lionel G. Sear
OLD FIRES AND PROFITABLE GHOSTS.
A Book of Stories
A. T. QUILLER-COUCH.
PREFACE
The stories in this book are of revenants: persons who either in spirit or in body revisit old scenes, return upon old selves or old emotions, or relate a message from a world beyond perception. "Which?" was suggested by a passage in Hawthorne's Note-books, where he proposes a story or sketch the scene of which is "to be laid within the light of a street lantern; the time, when the lamp is near going out; and the catastrophe to be simultaneous with the last flickering gleam." "The Lady of the Ship" is very nearly historical. "Prisoners of War" rests on the actual adventures of two St. Ives men, Thomas Williams and John Short, in the years 1804-1814. "Frozen Margit" and "The Seventh Man" have--if not their originals--at least their suggestions in fact.
One of the tales, "Once Aboard the Lugger,
Old Fires and Profitable Ghosts
by Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch