What Will He Do With It?

A summer fair in a Surrey village bursts open this novel's world of comic spectacle, social observation, and sharp-eyed wit, where booths, melodramas, and curious crowds expose vanity, class, and character. Into the noise step two striking strangers: Lionel, energetic and good-humored, and Vance, younger, handsome, and openly courageous, whose easy charm immediately draws notice and flirtation. Their wanderings lead from playful banter with village girls to a witty exchange with a cobbler about age, politics, and how occupations shape the mind, revealing the novel's delight in conversation as social satire. At a shabby little theatre, the friends are captivated by a child performer whose beauty and dignity outshine her glittering costume. Behind the scenes they discover her impoverished world: her broken-down grandfather Waife, once a famous actor, now survives through rough improvisation and the labor of his granddaughter, Juliet Araminta. The melodrama they watch, full of disguise, pursuit, and rescue, becomes a tribute to the enduring power of acting and the tragic neglect of talent. Meanwhile, Guy Darrell returns to public life with the force of a political resurrection, his calm authority and decisive speech restoring his influence and reminding all who see him that power, like reputation, can vanish and return when history calls it back. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.