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THE WATCHER BY
THE THRESHOLD

JOHN BUCHAN

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[Pg iii]

THE WATCHER BY
THE THRESHOLD

BY

JOHN BUCHAN

Author of "Greenmantle,"
"Salute to Adventurers,"
etc.

NEW YORK
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY

[Pg iv]

Copyright, 1918,
By George H. Doran Company

Printed in the United States of America

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TO

STAIR AGNEW GILLON

My dear Stair,

We have travelled so many roads together, highland and lowland,pleasant and dreary, that I ask you to accept this book of travellers'tales. For Scotland is a wide place to travel in for those who believethat it is not bounded strictly by kirk and market-place, and who havean ear for old songs and lost romances. It is of the back-world ofScotland that I write, the land behind the mist and over the seven bens,a place hard of access for the foot-passenger but easy for the maker ofstories. Meantime, to you, who have chosen the better part, I wish manybright days by hill and loch in the summers to come.

R. M. S. Briton, at sea

J. B.

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"Among idle men there be some who tarry in the outer courts, speedingthe days joyfully with dance and song. But the other sort dwell near theportals of the House, and are ever anxious and ill at ease that they maysee something of the Shadows which come and go. Wherefore night and daythey are found watching by the threshold, in fearfulness and joy, notwithout tears." Extract from the writings of Donisarius of Padua, circa 1310.

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CONTENTS