THE MASTER-GIRL

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

MEMOIRS OF A PERSON OF QUALITY
AS IT HAPPENED
AN OLD SCORE
THE MISTAKES OF MISS MANISTY

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT

THE
MASTER-GIRL

BY

ASHTON HILLIERS

WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS BY
ARTHUR H. BUCKLAND

SECOND EDITION

METHUEN & CO, LTD.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
LONDON

First Published      April 28th 1910

Second Edition            1910

TO MY CAVE MOTHER

Quarried from world-old gloom,
Yellow, brittle and dry,
Here, in our Science-Room,
Locked under glass they lie;
Bone to its bone brought nigh,
Bare to general view,
Bones that of yore were—you!
And, bone of your bone am I!

Nature her course has changed,
The sea-worm's lair is dry,
Your moon aloof, estranged,
Stares from an alien sky,
Levelled are low and high,
Mountains have rumbled down,
Here is a gas-lit town,
But bone of your bone am I.

Lords of the wild who reigned
By fear of fang and eye,
Antlered, tusked and maned,
Under the ooze they lie.
Mute is their hunting cry,
Their forests fall'n and gone,
Yet, the Soul that was you lives on,
And, bone of your bone am I.

Bend from your cavern-crypt,
Mother, a kindling eye,
Breathe thro' my manuscript
Strength of a day long by;
Colour, vitality,
Passion and laughter give!
Till the story's dry bones live,
For—bone of your bone am I!

A.H.

CONTENTS