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 70 of 254
Chapter VII · Lady Hammersmith Protests · pp. 67–76
The Keepers of the People
p. 67CHAPTER VII
LADY HAMMERSMITH PROTESTS
Althea, who had been lying dozing and silent most of the day, was not strong enough to come to dinner; and Lady Lisdor would not leave her. Ralph Falcon, therefore, thinking that the evening would be dull without them, left Lord Lisdor to the pleasure of being entertained by Lady Hammersmith and Miss Freshington, and came after dinner to Lady Lisdor’s boudoir. He found Althea lying on a couch, on the fair way to grow well, cheered by Lady Lisdor out of her oppressive memories of the fight. Each smiled to greet him; and he drew an easy chair to the opposite side of the couch, facing Lady Lisdor, and took into his strong, cool hand, the hot, little hand of Althea. Presently she said with an easy sigh, “How strong you are, Ralph! The mere touching you makes me feel better; and the feeling that such a great strong person is by me is so soothing.”
“I will send you to sleep presently,” said Ralph Falcon.
“No; I sha’n’t sleep to-night,” said Althea: “I shall keep Ruth awake for hours. But how is Alrasch?”
“He is not hurt much,” said Ralph Falcon.
“Oh!” cried Althea, “you went to see Alrasch before you came to see me.”
“Why shouldn’t I?” said Ralph Falcon.
“There!” cried Althea. “I knew he had been brought up to consider horses and dogs of more importance than women. Isn’t it shameful, Ruth?”
“We have settled that he has a wrong idea of the value of women; and we will leave it on the knees of the gods; they will avenge us some day,” said Lady Lisdor with a faint smile; but her eyes were serious.
“Women are charming and delightful creatures,” said Ralph Falcon.
“You’ve told us that,” said Althea. “But you ask Miss Freshington; you ask mamma; they will tell you very different. Charming! Is Ruth only charming?”
Ralph Falcon’s eyes shone with a sudden brightness, and he said, “You and Ruth are charming — and — and — more.”
Althea laughed faintly; and Lady Lisdor’s pale face flushed to a pink.
Ralph Falcon fell thoughtful; Althea closed her eyes; and they were silent awhile. Then he said, “I think that, since you saved Alrasch from being killed, he should be yours. Will you accept him?”
Socrates
Reading The Keepers of the People · Book I, Chapter VII · Lady Hammersmith Protests · Book I, Chapter VII · Lady Hammersmith Protests · pp. 67–76
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.