Produced by David WidgerTHE WEAVERSBy Gilbert ParkerCONTENTS  BOOK I  I        AS THE SPIRIT MOVED  II       THE GATES OF THE WORLD  III      BANISHED  IV       THE CALL  BOOK II  V        THE WIDER WAY  VI       HAST THOU NEVER BILLED A MANY  VII      THE COMPACT  VIII     FOR HIS SOULS SAKE AND THE LANDS SAKE  IX       THE LETTER THE NIGHT AND THE WOMAN  X        THE FOUR WHO KNEW  XI       AGAINST THE HOUR OF MIDNIGHT  XII      THE JEHAD AND THE LIONS  XIII     ACHMET THE ROPEMAKER STRIKES  XIV      BEYOND THE PALE  BOOK III  XV       SOOLSBYS HAND UPON THE CURTAIN  XVI      THE DEBT AND THE ACCOUNTING  XVII     THE WOMAN OF THE CROSSROADS  XVIII    TIME THE IDOLBREAKER  XIX      SHARPER THAN A SWORD  XX       EACH AFTER HIS OWN ORDER  XXI      THERE IS NOTHING HIDDEN WHICH SHALL NOT BE REVEALED  XXII     AS IN A GLASS DARKLY  XXIII    THE TENTS OF CUSHAN  XXIV     THE QUESTIONER  XXV      THE VOICE THROUGH THE DOOR  XXVI     I OWE YOU NOTHING  XXVII    THE AWAKENING  BOOK IV  XXVIII   NAHOUM TURNS THE SCREW  XXIX     THE RECOIL  XXX      LACEY MOVES  XXXI     THE STRUGGLE IN THE DESERT  XXXII    FORTY STRIPES SAVE ONE  XXXIII   THE DARK INDENTURE  XXXIV    NAHOUM DROPS THE MASK  BOOK V  XXXV     THE FLIGHT OF THE WOUNDED  XXXVI    IS IT ALWAYS SOIN LIFE  XXXVII   THE FLYING SHUTTLE  XXXVIII  JASPER KIMBER SPEAKS  XXXIX    FAITH JOURNEYS TO LONDON  BOOK VI  XL       HYLDA SEEKS NAHOUM  XLI      IN THE LAND OF SHINAR  XLII     THE LOOM OF DESTINYINTRODUCTIONWhen I turn over the hundreds of pages of this book I have a feelingthat I am looking upon something for which I have no particularresponsibility though it has a strange contour of familiarity It is asthough one looks upon a scene in which one had lived and moved with thefriendly yet halfdistant feeling that it once was ones own possessionbut is so no longer I should think the feeling to be much like that ofthe old man whose sons gone to distant places have created theirown plantations of life and have themselves become the masters ofpossessions Also I suppose that when I read the story through againfrom the first page to the last I shall recreate the feeling in whichI lived when I wrote it and it will become a part of my own identityagain That distance between himself and his work however whichimmediately begins to grow as soon as a book leaves the authors handsfor those of the public is a thing which I suppose must come to onewho produces a work of the imagination It is no doubt due to the factthat every piece of art which has individuality and real likeness tothe scenes and character it is intended to depict is done in a kind oftrance The author in effect selfhypnotises himself has createdan atmosphere which is separate and apart from that of his dailysurroundings and by virtue of his imagination becomes absorbed inthat atmosphere When the book is finished and it goes forth when theimagination is relaxed and the concentration of mind is withdrawn theatmosphere disappears and then One experiences what I feel when I takeup The Weavers and in a sense wonder how it was done such as it isThe frontispiece of the English edition represents a scene in the Houseof Commons and this brings to my mind a warning which was given mesimilar to that on my entering new fields outside the one in whichI first made a reputation in fiction When in a certain year Idetermined that I would enter the House of Commons I had many friendswho in effect wailed and gnashed their teeth They said that it wouldbe the death of my imaginative faculties that I should never writeanything any more that all the qualities which make literature livingand compelling would disappear I thought this was all wrong then andI know it is all wrong now Political life does certainly interferewith the amount of work which an author may produce He certainly cannotwrite a book every year and do political work as well but if he doesnot attempt to do the two things on the same days as it were but inblocks of time devoted to each separately and respectively he willonly find as I have found that public life the conflict of it theaccompanying attrition of mind the searching for the things which willsolve the problems of national life the multitudinous variations ofcharacter with which one comes in contact the big issues suddenlysprung upon the congregation of responsible politicians all arestimulating to the imagination invigorating to the mind andmarvellously freshening to every literary instinct No danger to thewriter lies in doing political work if it does not sap his strengthand destroy