The Exiles and Other Stories

In Short

This collection of eight stories traces the lives of people caught between duty, desire, and the urge to start over. It moves from Tangier, where American fugitives try to keep up a front of respectability, to the high-society parlors of New York and London, and on to a remote Pacific island where an ambitious reporter accidentally becomes king. Along the way, soldiers lie feverish on hospital ships and young lovers struggle to understand what they really owe to one another. Published in the 1890s, the collection has lasted because it combines sharp observation of late nineteenth-century social manners with vivid, fast-moving adventure.

The Story

The book opens in Tangier with "The Exiles," where a former New York district attorney named Henry Holcombe arrives for his health and finds a colony of American outcasts living under the relaxed watch of the local authorities. There he meets Meakim, a disgraced Tammany politician, Carroll, a disillusioned man living on the margins, and Winthrop Allen, a former friend who has absconded with three hundred thousand dollars. Holcombe, long dedicated to strict legal morality, finds his boundaries blurring as he spends time with these social outlaws. The tension culminates when Holcombe corners Allen in a hotel room and forcibly shakes him down for sixty thousand dollars to restore to a ruined victim back home, breaking the law himself in the name of a higher, rougher justice.

The focus shifts to domestic and romantic conflicts in "The Other Woman," where a young man named Latimer confronts his future father-in-law, a bishop, to ask for his daughter Ellen's hand. Latimer lays bare his devotion while navigating the unspoken social expectations that govern New York's elite.

In "On the Fever Ship," the setting changes to a grueling military transport carrying sick and wounded soldiers back from the Spanish-American War in Cuba. A young lieutenant lies delirious on his cot, unable to separate his fever-dreams from the reality of the ship. He imagines he is jumping overboard to cool his burning body, only to be wrestled back by the ward attendants. When the ship finally docks, he believes the cheering crowds and the girl running onto the pier to embrace him are merely another hallucination, until her tears and touch convince him he has actually made it home alive.

"The Lion and the Unicorn" moves to London, where an American painter named Philip Carroll pines for Helen, an ambitious young American woman determined to make her own way by painting miniatures for titled patrons. Philip's friend, the actress Marion Cavendish, tries to snap him out of his despondency by pretending that she and Philip are romantically involved, hoping to spark Helen's jealousy. Helen, meanwhile, secretly pawns her own prized possessions to buy back Philip's ring and watch after he has hit hard times. When Philip wakes up to find his art critical acclaim across London, the victory feels empty without Helen; she soon arrives at his studio, breaking down her pride to confess her love.

In "Miss Delamar's Understudy," a prosperous bachelor named Stuart receives a large photograph of Miss Delamar, a fashionable woman he admires. As he moves the portrait from room to room, he carries on imagined conversations with it, gradually realizing that the real woman's superficial nature and lack of depth cannot offer the true companionship he desires.

Finally, "The Reporter Who Made Himself King" tells the comedic adventure of Albert Gordon, a restless young journalist sent to serve as American secretary on the tiny, neglected island of Opeki. When the local American consul falls ill, Gordon steps in, only to find the island threatened by invading Hillmen and foreign warships. Through sheer nerve, Gordon takes command, declares himself ruler, tricks the native kings into abdicating, and orchestrates a daring defense before fleeing on a fishing boat just as a fleet of international warships arrives to clear up the confusion.

How It Unfolds

Outcasts in Tangier Henry Holcombe arrives in Morocco expecting quiet rest, but instead he is drawn into the company of American fugitives and disgraced exiles who maintain a fragile, polite facade to avoid losing their sanity.

A confrontation in the dark Holcombe corners the absconder Winthrop Allen in a hotel room, demanding sixty thousand dollars of stolen money at point-blank range and forcing the criminal to yield the leather case containing the funds.

Pleading before the bishop Young Latimer sits in a quiet study and asks the bishop for permission to marry his daughter Ellen, trying to articulate a devotion that goes far beyond traditional social standing.

Delirium on the high seas A fever-stricken lieutenant on a hospital ship mistakes his reality for a cruel illusion, trying to leap into the dark ocean before being pinned down by the ship's overworked stewards.

A trick to spark the heart In London, Marion Cavendish pretends to flirt with Philip to make Helen realize what she is about to lose, while Helen quietly pawns her own treasures to rescue Philip's pawned belongings.

Dialogue with a photograph Stuart carries a framed portrait of Miss Delamar around his apartment, testing his true feelings against her image until he recognizes the vast gulf between fashionable charm and genuine empathy.

Taking charge of an island Albert Gordon arrives on the isolated island of Opeki, takes over the consulate duties, and cheerfully reorganizes the kingdom's defense when wild native tribes launch an unexpected attack.

A fleet on the horizon As six massive warships steam toward Opeki in a grand display of international force, Gordon and his companion sail away on a small fishing boat, satisfied that their wild adventure has left its mark.

The People

• Henry Holcombe: A rigid New York legal mind who travels abroad for his health. He wants to maintain his high moral standards, but the unwritten rules of the exile community force him to commit a burglary to achieve what he considers real justice.
• Winthrop Allen: An absconding embezzler who flees to Morocco with three hundred thousand dollars. He wants to live undisturbed under foreign protection, but his former friend's sudden aggression exposes his cowardice.
• The Lieutenant: A wounded officer returning from Cuba on a fever ship. He wants relief from his burning illness and a return to normal life, but his own delirium makes him doubt whether his sweetheart's arrival at the dock is real or a trick of his brain.
• Philip Carroll: An earnest American painter working in London. He wants artistic success and the love of Helen, but her desire for independent social standing keeps them apart until a staged jealousy brings them together.
• Helen: A proud young painter striving to establish herself among London high society. She wants to prove she can succeed on her own, but she eventually realizes that her pride is costing her the man she truly loves.
• Albert Gordon: An energetic young reporter appointed to a minor diplomatic post on Opeki. He wants excitement, news, and authority, which he secures by boldly declaring himself ruler when crisis hits the island.

In Its Own Voice

"We're none of us here for our health, Holcombe, but it pleases us to pretend we are. It's a sort of give and take."

— Carroll explains the quiet agreement among the fugitives in Tangier to pretend that everyone in their social circle is respectable.

"A thief is a thief all the world over. What you may be in New York isn't going to help you here; neither is your father's name."

— Winthrop Allen warns Holcombe as the two men square off over a leather box containing thousands of stolen dollars.

"Stedman," said the elder boy, in an awe-struck whisper, and with a wave of his hand, "we have not lived in vain."

— Albert Gordon gazes back at the war fleet approaching Opeki as he and his friend escape into the open ocean.

What It's Really About

The collection examines the tension between public reputation and private integrity. Davis repeatedly asks what happens when civilized people are removed from the constraints of their home societies. In the foreign enclaves of Tangier or the remote beaches of the Pacific, formal laws lose their power, leaving individuals to rely entirely on their personal codes of honor. The stories explore the masks people wear—whether it is an embezzler pretending to be a gentleman, an artist pretending to be indifferent to love, or a young man pretending to hold diplomatic authority. Ultimately, the book suggests that true character reveals itself not in polite drawing rooms, but in moments of physical crisis, moral confusion, and sudden isolation.

Why Read It Today

This collection will appeal to readers who enjoy late Victorian adventure, crisp social satire, and fast-paced storytelling. Davis writes with the energetic, visual style of an experienced war correspondent, bringing immediate life to hospital ships, dusty Moroccan camps, and foggy London streets.

The prose moves quickly, though readers should be prepared for period attitudes that reflect the late nineteenth century. Davis occasionally relies on broad cultural stereotypes when depicting non-Western figures, such as the native islanders in Opeki, and his characters operate within rigid Victorian class assumptions. The dialect, while light, occasionally captures regional American and British phrasing of the era.

Despite these period markers, the stories remain remarkably fresh because Davis focuses on classic human dilemmas: the fear of missing out on love, the struggle to do the right thing when the rules no longer apply, and the impulse to treat life as a grand adventure. It is a readable, entertaining record of an era when the world felt both vast and suddenly connected.