The Disowned

A twilight encounter on an English lane draws a spirited young traveler into conversation with a tall, enigmatic stranger whose wit, confidence, and defense of open country make him seem both dangerous and irresistible. Speaking with passionate scorn for fences, calculation, and social constraint, the stranger claims a chosen allegiance to gypsy life and leads the youth to a hidden encampment in the woods, where firelight, tents, and a communal meal reveal a rough, secretive fellowship. There the charismatic King Cole presides over a boisterous feast, while his wife Lucy offers unexpected gentleness and cultivation, and the young outsider is welcomed with enough warmth, lawlessness, and roguish song to tempt him deeper into this unconventional world. Yet the camp's freedom is only the beginning. After parting from the gypsies, the traveler receives a crushing letter from home disowning him, but meets the blow with grim resolve, tearing it up and preparing to make his own way. An accident in the inn yard brings him into the orbit of Squire Mordaunt, and a comic treatment scene with the pompous Mr. Bossolton and the inquisitive Mrs. Taptape only sharpens the novel's blend of satire and charm. Wounded but unbowed, the young man reinvents himself with the elegant name "Clarence Linden," stepping toward a future shaped by mystery, deception, romance, and hard-won self-invention. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.