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 92 of 254
Chapter X · The Revolt of Althea · pp. 99–114
The Keepers of the People
p. 102“I do not think I want to hear about the good poets,” said Althea firmly. “I want to hear about the bad. They may be interesting, don’t you know?” “I shall certainly not accede to your request,” said Miss Blayne with severe dignity.
“I shall have to find out in the library,” said Althea gently.
“I have been talking to your mother about the books you read; and we have decided that for the future you will not be allowed to have books from Mudie’s, or read those in the library!” said Miss Blayne angrily.
“They will grow very dusty, then,” said Althea gently.
Miss Blayne was vexed at the little effect of a prohibition from which, since she knew that the child filled her life with reading, she had expected great submission; and she carried away the Mudie books herself as something of a solace to her disappointment.
After lunch Lady Hammersmith snatched a moment on her way to a meeting of the Society for the Penalisation of Vice, to come to Althea. Althea rose with a faint quiver of repugnance at the sight of her, and faced her with an extraordinary hardness in her eyes. Lady Hammersmith was in her wonted flurry; her mind was full of the coming meeting; and she did not perceive Althea’s hostile air.
“Well, Althea,” she began, “I trust that you are no longer in that disgraceful, wicked temper. You shocked me, shocked me.” Althea said nothing, gazing at her steadily.
“I hope and trust you are sorry for it. Anger is a terrible sin; and we should strive against it strenuously.” Althea said nothing.
“Now you will, won’t you, Althea? And you will find yourself happier. It is only by repressing your evil instincts that you can attain happiness; and I want you to promise me that you will set about repressing yours at once.”
“Have you come to hit me again?” said Althea.
Lady Hammersmith was checked, but she said, “That is not the right spirit to receive an admonition from your mother in, Althea.”
“I wish you would not call me Althea,” said Althea.
“Dear, dear, how very naughty you are!” cried Lady Hammersmith. “It is terrible to find this stubborn spirit in you!”
“I wish you would go away,” said Althea.
“This is worse and worse, adding disrespect to your mother to your revengefulness!” said Lady Hammersmith.
Socrates
Reading The Keepers of the People · Book I, Chapter X · The Revolt of Althea · Book I, Chapter X · The Revolt of Althea · pp. 99–114
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.