Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor Read online

  Produced by Donald Lainson

  LORNA DOONE, A ROMANCE OF EXMOOR

  by R. D. Blackmore

  Preface

  This work is called a 'romance,' because the incidents, characters,time, and scenery, are alike romantic. And in shaping this old tale, theWriter neither dares, nor desires, to claim for it the dignity or cumberit with the difficulty of an historic novel.

  And yet he thinks that the outlines are filled in more carefully, andthe situations (however simple) more warmly coloured and quickened, thana reader would expect to find in what is called a 'legend.'

  And he knows that any son of Exmoor, chancing on this volume, cannotfail to bring to mind the nurse-tales of his childhood--the savage deedsof the outlaw Doones in the depth of Bagworthy Forest, the beauty ofthe hapless maid brought up in the midst of them, the plain John Ridd'sHerculean power, and (memory's too congenial food) the exploits of TomFaggus.

  March, 1869.

  CONTENTS

  I. ELEMENTS OF EDUCATION

  II. AN IMPORTANT ITEM

  III. THE WARPATH OF THE DOONES

  IV. A VERY RASH VISIT

  V. AN ILLEGAL SETTLEMENT

  VI. NECESSARY PRACTICE

  VII. HARD IT IS TO CLIMB

  VIII. A BOY AND A GIRL

  IX. THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME

  X. A BRAVE RESCUE AND A ROUGH RIDE

  XI. TOM DESERVES HIS SUPPER

  XII. A MAN JUSTLY POPULAR

  XIII. MASTER HUCKABACK COMES IN

  XIV. A MOTION WHICH ENDS IN A MULL

  XV. MASTER HUCKABACK FAILS OF WARRANT

  XVI. LORNA GROWS FORMIDABLE

  XVII. JOHN IS CLEARLY BEWITCHED

  XVIII. WITCHERY LEADS TO WITCHCRAFT

  XIX. ANOTHER DANGEROUS INTERVIEW

  XX. LORNA BEGINS HER STORY

  XXI. LORNA ENDS HER STORY

  XXII. A LONG SPRING MONTH

  XXIII. A ROYAL INVITATION

  XXIV. A SAFE PASS FOR KING'S MESSENGER

  XXV. A GREAT MAN ATTENDS TO BUSINESS

  XXVI. JOHN IS DRAINED AND CAST ASIDE

  XXVII. HOME AGAIN AT LAST

  XXVIII. JOHN HAS HOPE OF LORNA

  XXIX. REAPING LEADS TO REVELLING

  XXX. ANNIE GETS THE BEST OF IT

  XXXI. JOHN FRY'S ERRAND

  XXXII. FEEDING OF THE PIGS

  XXXIII. AN EARLY MORNING CALLING

  XXXIV. TWO NEGATIVES MAKE AN AFFIRMATIVE

  XXXV. RUTH IS NOT LIKE LORNA

  XXXVI. JOHN RETURNS TO BUSINESS

  XXXVII. A VERY DESPERATE VENTURE

  XXXVIII. A GOOD TURN FOR JEREMY

  XXXIX. A TROUBLED STATE AND A FOOLISH JOKE

  XL. TWO FOOLS TOGETHER

  XLI. COLD COMFORT

  XLII. THE GREAT WINTER

  XLIII. NOT TOO SOON

  XLIV. BROUGHT HOME AT LAST

  XLV. A CHANGE LONG NEEDED

  XLVI. SQUIRE FAGGUS MAKES SOME LUCKY HITS

  XLVII. JEREMY IN DANGER

  XLVIII. EVERY MAN MUST DEFEND HIMSELF

  XLIX. MAIDEN SENTINELS ARE BEST

  L. A MERRY MEETING A SAD ONE

  LI. A VISIT FROM THE COUNSELLOR

  LII. THE WAY TO MAKE THE CREAM RISE

  LIII. JEREMY FINDS OUT SOMETHING

  LIV. MUTUAL DISCOMFITURE

  LV. GETTING INTO CHANCERY

  LVI. JOHN BECOMES TOO POPULAR

  LVII. LORNA KNOWS HER NURSE

  LVIII. MASTER HUCKABACK'S SECRET

  LIX. LORNA GONE AWAY

  LX. ANNIE LUCKIER THAN JOHN

  LXI. THEREFORE HE SEEKS COMFORT

  LXII. THE KING MUST NOT BE PRAYED FOR

  LXIII. JOHN IS WORSTED BY THE WOMEN

  LXIV. SLAUGHTER IN THE MARSHES

  LXV. FALLING AMONG LAMBS

  LXVI. SUITABLE DEVOTION

  LXVII. LORNA STILL IS LORNA

  LXVIII. JOHN IS JOHN NO LONGER

  LXIX. NOT TO BE PUT UP WITH

  LXX. COMPELLED TO VOLUNTEER

  LXXI. A LONG ACCOUNT SETTLED

  LXXII. THE COUNSELLOR AND THE CARVER

  LXXIII. HOW TO GET OUT OF CHANCERY

  LXXIV. DRIVEN BEYOND ENDURANCE

  LXXV. LIFE AND LORNA COME AGAIN