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 166 of 254
Chapter X · Ruth Comes to Varandaleel · pp. 220–235
The Keepers of the People
p. 226One of the native servants covered his face.
Lord Lisdor kicked a stone away savagely, and said, “You came in the nick of time, Ralph.”
“Yes,” said Prince Ralph.
“Ruth had just arranged to use a cartridge on herself; and I was feeling very cheerful. We should have knocked over some of the beggars; but they were too many for us,” said Lord Lisdor. “I never doubted! I never doubted! I knew that in His good time the Lord would save us from the Russians! — Going about seeking whom they might devour!” broke in the man in black.
Prince Ralph looked at him. He was a young man, with slack lips thrust open by protruding teeth, and bright, large eyes under a tall, narrow forehead.
“You didn’t sound so jolly confident, don’t you know? You were howling as though you were sure your throat would be cut in five minutes,” said Lord Lisdor.
“I never doubted! — never for a moment!” cried the young man shrilly; he was assuring himself no less than them. “And such a striking instance of the direct interposition of Providence will be indeed gratifying to our friends at home. It shows me too that I am worthy in the eyes of the Lord, that I am His chosen to perform my mission. With your lordship’s permission, I should like to hold a thanksgiving service before we proceed on our journey.”
“Who is this?” said Prince Ralph.
“I am the Reverend Stucker — the Reverend Peter Stucker — a worker in the vineyard of the Lord, carrying the Word to the heathen, our poor black brethren in Asia,” said the man.
There came a jingling of bridles and arms; and Prince Ralph’s riders came thronging down the road into the glade. He bade a dozen of them bury quickly the dead poet, the rest ride on and form in column in the plain.
“I see you’ve learnt to ride,” he said to Lord Lisdor.
“Yes, thanks to you, I had to,” said Lord Lisdor. “That was a pretty trick you served us, carrying off Althea.”
“Oh, yes; of course. I carried off Althea. I had almost forgotten it. I think she is glad she came. But come, you must eat and drink — and quickly. We may have more Russians down on us. I have horses for you,” said Prince Ralph.
Socrates
Reading The Keepers of the People · Book II, Chapter X · Ruth Comes to Varandaleel · Book II, Chapter X · Ruth Comes to Varandaleel · pp. 220–235
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.