WHO IN A DARKER HOUR OF LABOR AND MISGIVING CHEERED ME WITH AN ESTIMATE OF THIS NOVEL THAT THE PUBLIC HAS SINCE RATIFIED. The central incident of this novel is that most extraordinary of all punishments known to English criminal law, the _peine forte et dure_. The story is not, however, in any sense historical. A sketchy background of stirring history is introduced solely in order to heighten the personal danger of a brave man. The interest is domestic, and, perhaps, in some degree psychological. Around a pathetic piece of old jurisprudence I have gathered a mass of Cumbrian folk-lore and folk-talk with which I have been familiar from earliest youth. To smelt and mould the chaotic…
Or read it translated: 日本語 · 中文 · हिन्दी · Español · العربية · Français · বাংলা · Português · Русский · Bahasa Indonesia · اردو · Deutsch · Kiswahili · 한국어