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 CHAPTER X

"THE MIGHTY ATOM" AND "BOY"

Novels with a Purpose—The Criminally Mistaken Up-bringing of Children—Lionel Valliscourt an Eleven-year-old Atheist—The Cramming Process and its Effect on him—His Breakdown and Holiday—His Return to find that Little Jessamine is Dead—His Grief and Pathetic End—The Power of a Book like "The Mighty Atom" to Teach.

"Boy"—A somewhat Similar Work—The Responsibilities of Parents—"Boy's" Childhood—His Neglected Condition—Miss Letty and the Major—"Boy" goes to School—The Change Wrought in him—His Entirely blasé Demeanor at sixteen—"Boy" Guilty of Drunkenness and Fraud—His Final Reformation and Death     192

CHAPTER XI

"THE MURDER OF DELICIA" AND "ZISKA"

Modern Husbands—The Money Marriage—The Average Man and his Attitude in this Respect—Delicia Vaughan, Novelist and Beauty—Her foolish Infatuation for Lord Carlyon and Consequent Misery—"The Rare and Beautiful Blindness of Perfect Love"—The Penalty Paid by Delicia.

"Ziska": A Cairean Romance—Ziska the Flesh-clad Ghost of a Long-ago Dancer—"The Mighty Araxes," her Former Lover, Presented in Modern Shape as Armand Gervase, a French Painter—The Renewal of his Passion for Ziska—His Rival—"The Attraction we Call Love" a Preordained Destiny—Dr. Dean, savant, and his Interesting Theories—Beneath the Great Pyramid—Ziska's Terrible Revenge     207