原文 (英语)

To GILBERT KEITH CHESTERTON. My dear Gilbert, I dedicate this story to you. First: because the only really noble motive I had in writing it was the hope that you would enjoy it. Second: because I owe you a book in return for “The Man Who Was Thursday.” Third: because I said I would when I unfolded the plan of it to you, surrounded by Frenchmen, two years ago. Fourth: because I remember the past. I have been thinking again to-day of those astonishing times when neither of us