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 52 of 254
Chapter III · The Empress With the Emerald Eyes · pp. 29–37
The Keepers of the People
p. 36“You may find the English there,” said Ralph Falcon, and each syllable dropped from his lips with an almost metallic click.
The Russian turned on him, and cried hoarsely, “Ah, dead face — you! And your jewels! And your father’s estate! Do you think I did not see, dead face? Jewels! What can jewels do against guns? Be humble in your welcome! Do you hear! Humble, and even then — even then—” He gazed at Ralph Falcon with a sinister malignity. “Across those hills I am a free prince like my ancestors! Prince did I say? Emperor! Emperor!” He came tottering across the room to Ralph Falcon. “The Emperor Sergius the First! And an Empress with emerald eyes! With emerald eyes! Do you hear, dog with the dead face!” And he lurched forward, and struck at Ralph Falcon.
In a breath Ralph Falcon had sprung to his feet, caught him up, and dashed him down into an empty corner, with a crushing thud.
“By God, you’ve broken his neck!” cried Lord Lisdor.
“You can’t break the neck of a drunken man. Let us go to the ladies,” said Ralph Falcon, with a pleasant ring in his voice.
“I’ll just see, anyhow,” said Lord Lisdor; and going to the corner he caught the Russian by the leg and dragged him roughly out. He was breathing softly, and a great lump was rising on his forehead where it had struck the wall.
Lord Lisdor looked at him, and rapped out, “So that’s your game is it, you pretty sight for any-coloured eyes?”
“Let the sot lie: they are only drunken words,” said Ralph Falcon, opening the door.
“It’s the damned cheek of the thing!” said Lord Lisdor, and they went out together.
Socrates
Reading The Keepers of the People · Book I, Chapter III · The Empress With the Emerald Eyes · Book I, Chapter III · The Empress With the Emerald Eyes · pp. 29–37
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.