The ROMANCE OF AN OLD FOOL THE ROMANCE OF AN OLD FOOL BY ROSWELL FIELD EVANSTON WILLIAM S. LORD 1902 Copyright, 1902, by Roswell Field Roswell Field UNIVERSITY PRESS · JOHN WILSON AND SON · CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. To MY GODCHILDREN With the somewhat unnecessary assurance that it is not an autobiography, this little tale of misconceived attachment is affectionately inscribed [Pg 1] [Pg 1] THE ROMANCE of AN OLD FOOL IF it had not been for Bunsey, the novelist, I might have attained the heights. As a critic Bunsey has never commanded my highest admiration, and yet I have had my tender moments for him. From a really exacting standpoint he was not much of a novelist, and to his failure to win the wealth which is supposed to accompany fame I may have owed much of the debt of his sustained presence and his fondness for my tobacco. Bunsey had started out in life with high ideals, a resolution to lead the purely literary existence and to supply the market with a variety of choice, didactic essays along the line of high thinking; but the