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THE MONEY MASTER

By Gilbert Parker

EPOCH THE FIRSTI. THE GRAND TOUR OF JEAN JACQUES BARBILLEII. THE REST OF THE STORY "TO-MORROW"III. "TO-MORROW"

EPOCH THE SECONDIV. THIRTEEN YEARS AFTER AND THE CLERK OF THE COURT TELLS A STORYV. THE CLERK OF THE COURT ENDS HIS STORYVI. JEAN JACQUES HAD HAD A GREAT DAYVII. JEAN JACQUES AWAKES FROM SLEEPVIII. THE GATE IN THE WALLIX. "MOI-JE SUIS PHILOSOPHE"X. "QUIEN SABE"—WHO KNOWS!XI. THE CLERK OF THE COURT KEEPS A PROMISEXII. THE MASTER-CARPENTER HAS A PROBLEM

EPOCH THE THIRDXIII. THE MAN FROM OUTSIDEXIV. "I DO NOT WANT TO GO"XV. BON MARCHE

EPOCH THE FOURTHXVI. MISFORTUNES COME NOT SINGLYXVII. HIS GREATEST ASSETXVIII. JEAN JACQUES HAS AN OFFERXIX. SEBASTIAN DOLORES DOES NOT SLEEPXX. "AU 'VOIR, M'SIEU' JEAN JACQUES"XXI. IF SHE HAD KNOWN IN TIME

EPOCH THE FIFTHXXII. BELLS OF MEMORYXXIII. JEAN JACQUES HAS WORK TO DOXXIV. JEAN JACQUES ENCAMPED.XXV. WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE

EPILOGUE

INTRODUCTION

This book is in a place by itself among the novels I have written. Manycritics said that it was a welcome return to Canada, where I had made myfirst success in the field of fiction. This statement was only meagrelyaccurate, because since 'The Right of Way' was published in 1901 I hadwritten, and given to the public, 'Northern Lights', a book of shortstories, 'You Never Know Your Luck', a short novel, and 'The World forSale', though all of these dealt with life in Western Canada, and notwith the life of the French Canadians, in which field I had made my firstfirm impression upon the public. In any case, The Money Master wasfavourably received by the press and public both in England and America,and my friends were justified in thinking, and in saying, that I was athome in French Canada and gave the impression of mastery of my material.If mastery of material means a knowledge of the life, and a sympathy withit, then my friends are justified; for I have always had an intensesympathy with, and admiration for, French Canadian life. I think theFrench Canadian one of the most individual, original, and distinctivebeings of the modern world. He has kept his place, with his own customs,his own Gallic views of life, and his religious habits, with an assiduityand firmness none too common. He is essentially a man of the home, ofthe soil, and of the stream; he has by nature instinctive philosophy andtemperamental logic. As a lover of the soil of Canada he is notsurpassed by any of the other citizens of the country, English orotherwise.

It would almost seem as though the pageantry of past French Canadianhistory, and the beauty and vigour of the topographical surroundings ofFrench Canadian life, had produced an hereditary pride and exaltation—perhaps an excessive pride and a strenuous exaltation, but, in any case,there it was, and is. The French Canadian lives a more secluded life onthe whole than any other citizen of Canada, though the native,adventurous spirit has sent him to the Eastern States of the AmericanUnion for work in the mills and factories, or up to the farthest reachesof the St. Lawrence, Ottawa, and their tributaries in the wood and timbertrade.

Domestically he is perhaps the most productive son of the North Americancontinent. Families of twenty, or even twenty-five, are not unknown,and, when a man has had more th

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