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 93 of 254
Chapter X · The Revolt of Althea · pp. 99–114
The Keepers of the People
p. 104“I thought I made it plain to you yesterday that I didn’t consider you my mother any more,” said Althea.
Lady Hammersmith lost her temper. “I have no time to waste on you,” she cried, “you wicked child! I have a great work to do in the world; and I can be hindered no longer by the tempers of a wicked, obstinate child. I forbid you to leave the house for a week!”
“You can forbid anything you like,” said Althea, in her slow, gentle voice. “But as you are no longer my mother — not that you ever were really — I shall take no notice whatever.”
Lady Hammersmith dashed to the door, wrenched the key from the lock, and saying, “I will soon teach you to obey! Here you stay till I let you out!” went out, slammed the door behind her, and locked it. She had forgotten that the lock had been forced.
Althea had not forgotten; and she laughed. Then when she heard the housedoor shut behind her mother, she drew her door open, took out the key; and going downstairs, told the butler that the lock was to be mended at once. He lost no time, but sent out for a locksmith, who fastened the screws, and at Althea’s bidding, fixed a bolt on the inside.
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.