Pharos the Egyptian

CHAPTER I.

IF ever a man in this world had a terrible--I might almost go so far as to add a shameful--story to relate, surely I, Cyril Forrester, am that one. How strange--indeed, how most unbelievable--it is I do not think I even realized myself until I sat down to write it. The question the world will in all probability ask when it has read it is, why it should have been told at all. It is possible it may be of opinion that I should have served my generation just as well had I allowed it to remain locked up in my own bosom for all time. This, however, my conscience would not permit. There are numberless reasons, all of them important and some imperative beyond all telling, why I should make my confession, though God knows I am coward enough to shrink from the task. And, if you consider for a moment, I think you will understand why. In the first place, the telling of the story can only have the eff