The Perilous Seat

The background and details of this story have been carefully authenticated. The founding of the colony Inessa, however, is not an actual event. It is the union of a number of colony traditions. It is therefore correct in character and spirit. The tale was written at the MacDowell Colony at Peterborough, New Hampshire, and I am constantly mindful of the inspiration given to me by the beautiful and solitary surroundings in which I there worked.

This brutal statement was a nearer reading of Theria’s character than Nikander himself guessed. An unevenness of development was hers—a kind of mental hobbledehoy which is not infrequent in high-bred youngsters. Nay, more than this: An actual shrinking purity was the concomitant of her poetic gift. Other girls of Delphi discussed the facts of marriage with primitive frankness and looked forward to marriage as the one event to break monotony. Theria never spoke of it, and thought of it almost with horror—the strange house, the strange man, the mysteries from which she hid her eyes.