Produced by Charles Keller. HTML version by Al Haines.
THE QUEST OF THE GOLDEN GIRL
A ROMANCE
BY
RICHARD LE GALLIENNE
TO PRIOR AND LOUISE CHRISTIAN, WITH AFFECTION.
CONTENTS
BOOK I
CHAPTER
I. AN OLD HOUSE AND ITS BACHELOR
II. IN WHICH I DECIDE TO GO ON PILGRIMAGE
III. AN INDICTMENT OF SPRING
IV. IN WHICH I EAT AND DREAM
V. CONCERNING THE PERFECT WOMAN, AND THEREFORE CONCERNING ALL FEMININE READERS
VI. IN WHICH THE AUTHOR ANTICIPATES DISCONTENT ON THE PART OF HIS READER
VII. PRANDIAL
VIII. STILL PRANDIAL
IX. THE LEGEND OF HEBES OR THE HEAVENLY HOUSEMAID
X. AGAIN ON FOOT-THE GIRLS THAT NEVER CAN BE MINE
XI. AN OLD MAN OF THE HILLS, AND THE SCHOOLMASTER'S STORY
XII. THE TRUTH ABOUT THE GIPSIES
XIII. A STRANGE WEDDING
XIV. THE MYSTERIOUS PETTICOAT
XV. STILL OCCUPIED WITH THE PETTICOAT
XVI. CLEARS UP MY MYSTERIOUS BEHAVIOUR OF THE LAST CHAPTER
XVII. THE NAME UPON THE PETTICOAT
XVIII. IN WHICH THE NAME OF A GREAT POET IS CRIED OUT IN A SOLITARY PLACE
XIX. WHY THE STRANGER WOULD NOT LOSE HIS SHELLEY FOR THE WORLD
BOOK II
I. IN WHICH I DECIDE TO BE YOUNG AGAIN
II. AT THE SIGN OF THE SINGING STREAM
III. IN WHICH I SAVE A USEFUL LIFE
IV. 'T IS OF NICOLETE AND HER BOWER IN THE WILDWOOD
V. 'T IS OF AUCASSIN AND NICOLETE
VI. A FAIRY TALE AND ITS FAIRY TAILORS
VII. FROM THE MORNING STAR TO THE MOON
VIII. THE KIND OF THING THAT HAPPENS IN THE MOON
IX. WRITTEN BY MOONLIGHT
X. HOW ONE MAKES LOVE AT THIRTY
XI. HOW ONE PLAYS THE HERO AT THIRTY
XII. IN WHICH I REVIEW MY ACTIONS AND RENEW MY RESOLUTIONS
BOOK III
I. IN WHICH I RETURN TO MY RIGHT AGE AND ENCOUNTER A COMMON OBJECT OF THE COUNTRY
II. IN WHICH I HEAL A BICYCLE AND COME TO THE WHEEL OF PLEASURE
III. TWO TOWN MICE AT A COUNTRY INN
IV. MARRIAGE A LA MODE
V. CONCERNING THE HAVEN OF YELLOW SANDS
Table of contents (by pages)
- 1: Quest of the Golden Girl, a Romance
- 2: One day came a Faust into our garden
- 3: That had prompted them to go on pilgrimage
- 4: Lost deep down in the green alleys of the dingle
- 5: And of her kindred I have no care
- 6: And presently came the little grassy glade
- 7: Much about the same time as Firenzuola was writing
- 8: What new type of perfect imperfection they would create
- 9: And all wines are by their very nature full of reminiscence
- 10: I might have known it was Hebe
- 11: And whoso kisseth those apples high
- 12: For bar maids seem always to come from Manchester
- 13: And then I have caught seals off the coast of Labrador
- 14: The schoolmaster was a noble looking young man too
- 15: Just as the Alps have been over climbed
- 16: Most gipsies are merely tenth rate provincial companies
- 17: And some may say prosaic enough
- 18: The bridegroom did not keep us waiting long
- 19: I thought of Heine's son of Asra
- 20: Fluttered fantastically across a space of the garden
- 21: It is somewhere on that pretty petticoat
- 22: But that pretty petticoat and those silk stockings
- 23: I should come upon her very petticoat
- 24: When I saw that mysterious petticoat
- 25: Settled like a cloud slope upon slope
- 26: I replied but I believed that I had seen a copy of Alastor
- 27: Have you found your Shelley yet
- 28: And then he told me the story of his Shelley
- 29: The gulf yawned shiveringly wide at remarks like that
- 30: Only less transcendental than that of the Holy Grail itself
- 31: Apuleius or Fielding or Boccaccio
- 32: You may be sure her name was Amaryllis had not betrayed me
- 33: A trout at least three pounds in weight
- 34: I'm a worshipper of the great god Whim too
- 35: As our young friend Alastor said
- 36: Books are simply professional liars about life
- 37: Not to speak of an admiration for Aucassin and Nicolete
- 38: At her urgent entreaty they had left Nicolete behind them
- 39: To confess my pilgrimage to Nicolete
- 40: Nicolete was confident of her assistance
- 41: My acquaintance among the Rosalinds of the bicycle
- 42: Nicolete and the Obstacle were both awaiting me
- 43: I turned and looked at Nicolete striding manfully at my side
- 44: With such daily intercourse with Nicolete
- 45: I think I was more troubled than Nicolete
- 46: I took a favourable opportunity of conveying it to Nicolete
- 47: Nicolete looked at me strangely
- 48: Nicolete appeared with white face at the door
- 49: The whole episode was made for Alastor
- 50: The good genius of my pilgrimage felt it time to resign
- 51: Recumbent and evidently sleeping against the turf bank
- 52: And told her how I had noticed her and the wounded bicycle
- 53: I found Rosalind awaiting me in the coffee room
- 54: Poets sociable and poets very unsociable
- 55: Rosalind was very reassuring on that point
- 56: How had Orlando been getting on
- 57: As for the moment Rosalind was my one concern
- 58: Rosalind was off to seek her lord
- 59: He craves nothing but a simple Bath bun of happiness
- 60: The gig immediately hoisted a handkerchief
- 61: I cannot describe her features
- 62: Nothing further happened to me till I reached Yellowsands
- 63: Across to the breakwater headland on another
- 64: Chapter viiithe twelve golden haired bar maids
- 65: That Circe shall have her palace
- 66: And Rosalind presently recovered without the brandy
- 67: I transcribe this Hymn of the Daughters of Aphrodite
- 68: Orlando too was excitedly punctual
- 69: She hasn't fallen in love with you
- 70: Plunged right away into monogamy
- 71: Orlando once said to me long after
- 72: And that did make her cross with Orlando
- 73: With such a petticoat and such a name
- 74: You shall see your autograph petticoat
- 75: Held her breath till Sylvia answered
- 76: I sip it with a delicious thrill of degeneration
- 77: And any one who has heard the nightingale must
- 78: I looked daggers at the husband
- 79: And introduce me to the terrible Cafe d'Harcourt
- 80: You know Miss Semiramis Wilcox
- 81: Prim little Pauline Deschapelles
- 82: And say good bye to the great mulberry
- 83: Kind little Ann whom De Quincey had loved
- 84: But she had glorious chestnut hair
- 85: The girl in the gig was her sister
- 86: One half of which was gold and the other half chestnut