John Buchan 
The Path of the King 
Collection of Short Stories

This collection of fourteen short stories, The Path of the King offers a tapestry of historical episodes, from the Vikings through centuries of Norman and French, Flemish, English, Scottish, and American social, economic, and political life. Famous events such as the massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve, the adventures of Daniel Boone, and much else provide the background for the men and women who successively have the blood of kingliness in them, however diluted. The subtly linked individual stories are used to suggest that kingliness may be dormant or fitful over several generations but will eventually reappear in someone, like Abraham Lincoln.