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 35 of 254
Chapter I · Ralph Falcon Comes to Quivern Court · pp. 3–17
The Keepers of the People
p. 8“Me! Bully you! Me! The victim of your perpetual mischief! You wicked child!” cried Lady Lisdor; and Althea smiled at her.
They came out of the wood on to a great lawn, bordered by many flower-beds, teeming with bright flowers, which stretched for a full quarter of a mile to the terraces which rose above one another before Quivern Court, a great stone building of a dignified simplicity.
Two men, who had just finished playing lawn tennis, were coming towards them from the middle of the lawn, the face of the taller flushed and angry, the face of the shorter cool and serene.
“I do hope George has beaten that horrid Russian,” said Althea.
“It looks like it,” said Lady Lisdor.
“They have been betting again,” said Althea. “I know George’s gambling look. You will have a new horse, if you are good.”
“You will soon know all about your English relatives, Mr. Falcon,” said Lady Lisdor patiently.
The two men met them; Lady Lisdor introduced Ralph Falcon to her husband, and either looked very keenly into the other’s eyes.
“I am very pleased to see you at Quivern Court, Cousin Ralph,” said Lord Lisdor.
“Thank you,” said Ralph Falcon.
“Mr. Falcon — Prince Melinsky,” said Lady Lisdor; and Prince Melinsky, in his bad temper, stared at him with a certain insolence; but Ralph Falcon had only eyes for the Lisdors.
“How did the tennis go?” said Lady Lisdor.
“Such luck was never known!” Prince Melinsky broke out angrily. “I had the deciding set in my hands: five games love. Then Lord Lisdor crept up, crept up, crept up; and I played worse and worse; and he beat me seven five.”
From the frank pleasure on the faces of Lady Lisdor and Althea it was plain that neither liked the Russian; and Lady Lisdor said quickly, to escape from his petulance —
“Do you play lawn tennis, Mr. Falcon?”
“No,” said Ralph Falcon.
“By the way, it’s Sir Ralph Falcon, isn’t it?” said Lord Lisdor.
“No; my grandfather dropped the ‘Sir’ when he left England.”
“Well, we must teach you lawn tennis. It’s not much of a game. I play it a good deal, because I am not keen on riding; I don’t go racing; and there is nothing else to do in the country at this time of year. But how did you get to the Court this way?” said Lord Lisdor.
Socrates
Reading The Keepers of the People · Book I, Chapter I · Ralph Falcon Comes to Quivern Court · Book I, Chapter I · Ralph Falcon Comes to Quivern Court · pp. 3–17
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.