Transcriber's Note:
Obvious typographic errors have been corrected.
THE MOTH DECIDES
BY THE SAME AUTHOR:
THE
CHARMED CIRCLE
A tale of Paris and an American boy who found on every hand romancehidden away. "As sunny as 'Seventeen' and as subtle as 'The Age ofInnocence.' There will be thousands to delight in it with tears andchuckles."—Wilson Follett
THE WHITE KAMI
The story of a mysterious island in the China Sea. "Has flavor,charm, and qualities of unusual distinction. We are swept so far fromreality that we close the story with genuine regret."—Boston EveningTranscript
NEW YORK: ALFRED · A · KNOPF
The Moth Decides
A NOVEL
BY
Edward Alden Jewell
NEW YORK ALFRED · A · KNOPF MCMXXII
COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY
EDWARD ALDEN JEWELL
Published, September, 1922
Set up, electrotyped, and printed by the Vail-Ballou Co., Binghamton, N. Y.
Paper supplied by W. F. Etherington & Co., New York, N. Y.
Bound by the H. Wolff Estate, New York, N. Y.
MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
TO
HAROLD PAGET
CONTENTS
| Part One: The Arrival | 11 |
| Part Two: The Kiss | 119 |
| Part Three: The Light | 199 |
PART I
1
When Louise opened her eyes she stared dreamily up at the slightabrasion in the shingle roof through which morning blinked. There werenot many of these informal skylights, for the roof was not an oldone. But there were a few, as there are likely to be in most summercottages. When there was a violent downpour one had to hustle arounddistributing pans and kettles to catch an often ambitious drip. Butthis morning there was no rain. Louise's pretty face was not in dangerof an unsolicited bath. It was a radiant summer dawn.
For a moment she wondered how she had happened to wake so early. TheJuly birds were all chattering in the woods. But why should shewaken out of deep slumber unsummoned? Presently, however, the reasonf