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 168 of 254
Chapter X · Ruth Comes to Varandaleel · pp. 220–235
The Keepers of the People
p. 230“You have heard too much. You shall go to it,” said Prince Ralph. After rewarding them bountifully, he gave Lord Lisdor’s servants into the charge of twenty horsemen, bidding them lead them round the Russians, and set them safely on the road to the South.
He lifted Ruth into the saddle; and they rode up the pass. It was a tiring ride, under a blazing noonday sun, and there was little shade from the mountains. From the further foot of the pass he despatched Ruth and Lord Lisdor to the palace; and drawing the missionary aside, offered him briefly the choice between death and silence. The missionary was for talking; Prince Ralph said, “Choose at once!” and after one glance at his face, he chose silence. Two mutes were bidden convey him to a village some ten miles from the palace; as he rode away, Prince Ralph said sternly, “Do not forget.” Then he mounted a fresh horse, and rode back up the pass to have the earliest news from his scouts of the strength of the Russians, and their whereabouts.
Ruth and Lord Lisdor came to the palace, to Prince Ralph’s wing; and the amazed Althea informed by a swift horseman, was waiting to welcome them. As she helped Ruth from the saddle, and kissed her, and saw her face bright with pleasure to see her once more, she rejoiced to have her dear friend again. But the sight of her beauty troubled her joy. She had seen how closely Ruth and Prince Ralph had been drawn to one another in the old days; she was sure that if Ruth had been attracted by Ralph Falcon, she was likely to conceive a passion for Prince Ralph of Varandaleel; and she knew that he had by no means forgotten her.
It was only now that she understood her own new fondness for Prince Ralph, the mischief his kiss had worked. But she was a brave child, and generous; she thrust firmly away from her the thought that she welcomed a rival in a friend; and her heart went out to the weary, travel-stained creature.
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.