The Light Above the Cross Roads

General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1918 Original Publisher: Dodd, Mead Subjects: World War, 1914-1918 English fiction History / Military / World War I Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER III HOME and parents were such visionary words to Marcus Janover, now arrived at the age of fourteen, that when he actually found himself face to face with both in one short hour he caught himself considering the impression first of London, and then of Lady Janover, with almost cynical calculation of effect. Holland had been cheerful and delightful. One saw roads that were interesting, and sails that belonged to invisible boats, over green stretches of land. Further, one saw windmills, and all sorts of people love windmills, even the least romantic; little carts drawn by racing dogs, toy farms, and a land that might almost have been created by some large child who had a passion for tulips. Marcus looked out over Holland and approved of it. Then came the Flushing boat, and the boys of almost a whole night at sea, and then, with a high heart, Marcus prepared to do homage to his own land. The morning was dark and rainy, and the port of Queenboro' was drab and depressing; the houses looked poor and the people looked sad; an icy wind thick with sleet flung itself about him, and the coat he wore turned up to his chin felt as if it were made of newspaper. As the train raced him towards London, he stared out looking to find the thing he sought, the illusive, vague desire that fled like wisps of white steam; the smiling face of Home, the intense joy of return, but it flew ahead and always ahead. He was only a small boy, but he had fought for this forbidding country, and he felt disgusted ...