The Golden Scarecrow

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The Golden Scarecrow

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Title: The Golden Scarecrow
Author: Hugh Walpole
Release Date: November 29, 2004 [EBook #14201]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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THE GOLDEN SCARECROW
BY

HUGH WALPOLE
AUTHOR OF
"THE DUCHESS OF WREXE," "FORTITUDE," "THE PRELUDE
TO ADVENTURE," "THE WOODEN HORSE." ETC.
NEW YORK
1915
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
PROLOGUE--HUGH SEYMOUR 11 I. HENRY FITZGEORGE
STRETHER 43 II. ERNEST HENRY 65 III. ANGELINA 94 IV. BIM
ROCHESTER 121 V. NANCY ROSS 146 VI. 'ENERY 172 VII.
BARBARA FLINT 198 VIII. SARAH TREFUSIS 226 IX. YOUNG
JOHN SCARLET 256 EPILOGUE 274

PROLOGUE
HUGH SEYMOUR
I
When Hugh Seymour was nine years of age he was sent from Ceylon,
where his parents lived, to be educated in England. His relations having,
for the most part, settled in foreign countries, he spent his holidays as a
very minute and pale-faced "paying guest" in various houses where
other children were of more importance than he, or where children as a
race were of no importance at all. It was in this way that he became
during certain months of 1889 and 1890 and '91 a resident in the family

of the Rev. William Lasher, Vicar of Clinton St. Mary, that large
rambling village on the edge of Roche St. Mary Moor in South
Glebeshire.
He spent there the two Christmases of 1890 and 1891 (when he was ten
and eleven years of age), and it is with the second of these that the
following incident, and indeed the whole of this book, has to do. Hugh
Seymour could not, at the period of which I write, be called an
attractive child; he was not even "interesting" or "unusual." He was
very minutely made, with bones so brittle that it seemed that, at any
moment, he might crack and splinter into sharp little pieces; and I am
afraid that no one would have minded very greatly had this occurred.
But although, he was so thin his face had a white and overhanging
appearance, his cheeks being pale and puffy and his under-lip jutted
forward in front of projecting teeth--he was known as the "White
Rabbit" by his schoolfellows. He was not, however, so ugly as this
appearance would apparently convey, for his large, grey eyes, soft and
even, at times agreeably humorous, were pleasant and cheerful.
During these years when he knew Mr. Lasher he was undoubtedly
unfortunate. He was shortsighted, but no one had, as yet, discovered
this, and he was, therefore, blamed for much clumsiness that he could
not prevent and for a good deal of sensitiveness that came quite simply
from his eagerness to do what he was told and his inability to see his
way to do it. He was not, at this time, easy with strangers and seemed
to them both conceited and awkward. Conceit was far from him--he
was, in fact, amazed at so feeble a creature as himself!--but awkward
he was, and very often greedy, selfish, impetuous, untruthful and even
cruel: he was nearly always dirty, and attributed this to the evil wishes
of some malign fairy who flung mud upon him, dropped him into
puddles and covered him with ink simply for the fun of the thing!
He did not, at this time, care very greatly for reading; he told himself
stories--long stories with enormous families in them, trains of elephants,
ropes and ropes of pearls, towers of ivory, peacocks, and strange meals
of saffron buns, roast chicken, and gingerbread. His active, everyday
concern, however, was to become a sportsman; he wished to be the best

cricketer, the best footballer, the fastest runner of his school, and he had
not--even then faintly he knew it--the remotest chance of doing any of
these things even moderately well. He was bullied at school until his
appointment as his dormitory's story-teller gave him a certain status,
but his efforts at cricket and football were mocked with jeers and
insults. He could not throw a cricket-ball, he could not see to catch one
after it was thrown to him, did he try to kick a football he missed it, and
when he had run for five minutes he saw purple skies and silver stars
and has cramp in his legs. He