Diotimos Library · Literary Fiction Collection · English Edition
The Keepers of the People
A Critical Edition of the 1898 Novel
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English Edition · Branch 157 of 254
Chapter VIII · Althea Asks a Boon · pp. 201–211
The Keepers of the People
p. 210The girl at Althea’s side awoke to what was towards, at the sound of their voices, and springing forward flung herself down at their side, and cried, “Spare him, O son of Indra! He is my brother!”
“It may not be,” said Prince Ralph sternly.
They rocked to and fro wailing; the old woman crept forward, and kissed his horse’s hoof.
Althea laid her hand on his arm and said huskily, “Spare him, Prince Ralph. Can’t you flog him instead?”
“No, child; he must die. Look at him; he is a mere hysteric woman,” said Prince Ralph.
Althea cast one glance at the young man’s twitching lips, and at his wailing kin; and turning her horse, rode into the wood, the tears raining down her face.
“It is expedient that one man die for the people,” said Prince Ralph in a loud voice.
“It is expedient that one man die for the people!” cried the older men, who had tried to rescue the girl, very sternly; and the sword fell.
Prince Ralph gave the word of command, the horsemen formed behind him, and he rode after Althea. When he caught her up, they broke into a canter. All the way home neither of them said a word, and she did not ride so near to him as she was wont. Once she heard him heave a quick sigh; and midway he lifted off his helmet and gave it to one of the horsemen, to let the cool night wind play freely on his forehead. As he lifted her from the saddle, he said, “It is the price of laughter.”
Socrates
Reading The Keepers of the People · Book II, Chapter VIII · Althea Asks a Boon · Book II, Chapter VIII · Althea Asks a Boon · pp. 201–211
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Edgar Jepson’s The Keepers of the People begins as a late-Victorian lost-kingdom romance and becomes an unsettling political argument. Ralph Falcon moves from an English country house to the hidden state of Varandaleel, where laughter, secrecy, violence, education, and the duties of rulers are tested against one another.
Historical Text
The novel was first published in London in 1898 by C. Arthur Pearson. This reading text follows the owner-supplied critical edition, whose copy-text is the Methuen Colonial Library issue of the same year digitised by the Internet Archive. The supplied editorial note records the edition’s corrections, normalisations, limits, and unresolved textual risks.
About This Edition
This English Edition preserves the complete supplied text and apparatus: the introduction, reading guide, key words, plot outline, editorial note, both books and all thirty chapters, and the end notes. Its reader branches end at paragraph boundaries, with the original chapter structure and chapter page references mapped to the 1898 printing.
Rights
Edgar Jepson’s 1898 novel is in the public domain. The introduction, reader’s guide, key words, outline, editorial note, notes, editorial arrangement, and design of the supplied edition are © 2026 Diotimos Editions.