On a summer’s morning, between thirty and forty years ago, two girls were crying bitterly in the cabin of an East Indian passenger ship, bound outward, from Gravesend to Bombay. They were both of the ...

On a summer’s morning, between thirty and forty years ago, two girls were crying bitterly in the cabin of an East Indian passenger ship, bound outward, from Gravesend to Bombay. They were both of the ...

On a summer’s morning, between thirty and forty years ago, two girls were crying bitterly in the cabin of an East Indian passenger ship, bound outward, from Gravesend to Bombay. They were both of the ...

Twenty-four years later⁠—in the summer of eighteen hundred and fifty-five⁠—there was a villa at Hampstead to be let, furnished. The house was still occupied by the persons who desired to let it. On th...

Externally speaking, the rising solicitor, who was going to try his luck at the Bar, looked like a man who was going to succeed. His hard, hairless face, his watchful gray eyes, his thin, resolute lip...

She was tall and elegant; beautifully dressed, in the happiest combination of simplicity and splendor. A light summer veil hung over her face. She lifted it, and made her apologies for disturbing the ...

Advancing from time past to time present, the Prologue leaves the date last attained (the summer of eighteen hundred and fifty-five), and travels on through an interval of twelve years⁠—tells who live...

Advancing from time past to time present, the Prologue leaves the date last attained (the summer of eighteen hundred and fifty-five), and travels on through an interval of twelve years⁠—tells who live...

Five years passed⁠—and the lives of the three men who had sat at the dinner-table in the Hampstead villa began, in their altered aspects, to reveal the progress of time and change. Mr. Kendrew; Mr. De...

Five years more passed, dating from the day when the deserted wife was laid in her grave. It was now the year eighteen hundred and sixty six. On a certain day in that year two special items of news ap...

Drawing fast to its close, the Prologue reverts to the two girls⁠—and tells, in a few words, how the years passed with Anne and Blanche. Lady Lundie more than redeemed the solemn pledge that she had g...

In two months from that time one of the forebodings which had weighed on Lady Lundie’s mind was fulfilled. She died on the voyage, and was buried at sea. In a year more the second misgiving was confir...

In the spring of the year eighteen hundred and sixty-eight there lived, in a certain county of North Britain, two venerable White Owls. The Owls inhabited a decayed and deserted summerhouse. The summe...

In the spring of the year eighteen hundred and sixty-eight there lived, in a certain county of North Britain, two venerable White Owls. The Owls inhabited a decayed and deserted summerhouse. The summe...

In the spring of the year eighteen hundred and sixty-eight there lived, in a certain county of North Britain, two venerable White Owls. The Owls inhabited a decayed and deserted summerhouse. The summe...

Who was responsible for the reform of the summerhouse? The new tenant at Windygates was responsible. And who was the new tenant? Come, and see. In the spring of eighteen hundred and sixty-eight the su...

But two persons were now left in the summerhouse⁠—Arnold Brinkworth and Sir Patrick Lundie. “Mr. Brinkworth,” said the old gentleman, “I have had no opportunity of speaking to you before this; and (as...

He advanced a few steps, and stopped. Absorbed in herself, Anne failed to hear him. She never moved. “I have come, as you made a point of it,” he said, sullenly. “But, mind you, it isn’t safe.” At the...

She took his hand, and began with all the art of persuasion that she possessed. “One question, Geoffrey, before I say what I want to say. Lady Lundie has invited you to stay at Windygates. Do you acce...

Lady Lundie pointed significantly to the door, and addressed herself to Sir Patrick’s private ear. “Observe!” she said. “Miss Silvester has just got rid of somebody.” Sir Patrick deliberately looked i...

Arnold was the first who broke the silence. “Is your father seriously ill?” he asked. Geoffrey answered by handing him the card. Sir Patrick, who had stood apart (while the question of Ratcatcher’s re...

It was still early in the afternoon when the guests at Lady Lundie’s lawn-party began to compare notes together in corners, and to agree in arriving at a general conviction that “something was wrong.”...

“Ye’ll just permit me to remind ye again, young leddy, that the hottle’s full⁠—exceptin’ only this settin’-room, and the bedchamber yonder belonging to it.” So spoke “Mistress Inchbare,” landlady of t...

“Ye’ll just permit me to remind ye again, young leddy, that the hottle’s full⁠—exceptin’ only this settin’-room, and the bedchamber yonder belonging to it.” So spoke “Mistress Inchbare,” landlady of t...

The knock at the door was repeated⁠—a louder knock than before. “Are you deaf?” shouted Arnold. The door opened, little by little, an inch at a time. Mr. Bishopriggs appeared mysteriously, with the cl...

The doubt was practically decided before Anne had determined what to do. She was still at the window when the sitting-room door was thrown open, and Sir Patrick appeared, obsequiously shown in by Mr. ...

Meanwhile Arnold remained shut up in the headwaiter’s pantry⁠—chafing secretly at the position forced upon him. He was, for the first time in his life, in hiding from another person, and that person a...

Mrs. Inchbare was the first person who acted in the emergency. She called for lights; and sternly rebuked the housemaid, who brought them, for not having closed the house door. “Ye feckless ne’er-do-w...

Lord Holchester’s servants⁠—with the butler at their head⁠—were on the lookout for Mr. Julius Delamayn’s arrival from Scotland. The appearance of the two brothers together took the whole domestic esta...

Lord Holchester’s servants⁠—with the butler at their head⁠—were on the lookout for Mr. Julius Delamayn’s arrival from Scotland. The appearance of the two brothers together took the whole domestic esta...

The interval of eight-and-forty hours passed⁠—without the occurrence of any personal communication between the two brothers in that time. Julius, remaining at his father’s house, sent brief written bu...

Time had advanced to after noon before the selection of Geoffrey’s future wife was accomplished, and before the instructions of Geoffrey’s brother were complete enough to justify the opening of the ma...

The Library at Windygates was the largest and the handsomest room in the house. The two grand divisions under which literature is usually arranged in these days occupied the customary places in it. On...

The Library at Windygates was the largest and the handsomest room in the house. The two grand divisions under which literature is usually arranged in these days occupied the customary places in it. On...

Blanche stepped lightly into the room, through one of the open French windows. “What are you doing here?” she said to Arnold. “Nothing. I was just going to look for you in the garden.” “The garden is ...

The object of the invasion of the library by the party in the garden appeared to be twofold. Sir Patrick had entered the room to restore the newspaper to the place from which he had taken it. The gues...

As soon as the general stupefaction was allayed, the general incredulity asserted itself as a matter of course. The man who first declared that “seeing” was “believing” laid his finger (whether he kne...

Arnold was a little surprised by the curt manner in which Geoffrey answered him. “Has Sir Patrick said anything unpleasant?” he asked. “Sir Patrick has said just what I wanted him to say.” “No difficu...

Blanche came in, with a glass of wine in her hand, and saw the swooning woman on the floor. She was alarmed, but not surprised, as she knelt by Anne, and raised her head. Her own previous observation ...

The chaise rattled our through the gates. The dogs barked furiously. Sir Patrick looked round, and waved his hand as he turned the corner of the road. Blanche was left alone in the yard. She lingered ...

“Well?” whispered Blanche, taking her uncle confidentially by the arm. “Well,” said Sir Patrick, with a spark of his satirical humor flashing out at his niece, “I am going to do a very rash thing. I a...

Blanche found her lover as attentive as usual to her slightest wish, but not in his customary good spirits. He pleaded fatigue, after his long watch at the crossroads, as an excuse for his depression....

Sir Patrick made a bad breakfast. Blanche’s absence fretted him, and Anne Silvester’s letter puzzled him. He read it, short as it was, a second time, and a third. If it meant anything, it meant that t...

Sir Patrick found his sister-in-law immersed in domestic business. Her ladyship’s correspondence and visiting list, her ladyship’s household bills and ledgers; her ladyship’s diary and memorandum-book...

It is the nature of truth to struggle to the light. In more than one direction, the truth strove to pierce the overlying darkness, and to reveal itself to view, during the interval between the date of...

On the day when Sir Patrick received the second of the two telegrams sent to him from Edinburgh, four respectable inhabitants of the City of Glasgow were startled by the appearance of an object of int...

On the day when Sir Patrick received the second of the two telegrams sent to him from Edinburgh, four respectable inhabitants of the City of Glasgow were startled by the appearance of an object of int...

Mrs. Karnegie was a woman of feeble intelligence and violent temper; prompt to take offense, and not, for the most part, easy to appease. But Mrs. Karnegie being⁠—as we all are in our various degrees⁠...

“Not so large as Windygates. But⁠—shall we say snug, Jones?” “And comfortable, Smith. I quite agree with you.” Such was the judgment pronounced by the two choral gentlemen on Julius Delamayn’s house i...

“Not so large as Windygates. But⁠—shall we say snug, Jones?” “And comfortable, Smith. I quite agree with you.” Such was the judgment pronounced by the two choral gentlemen on Julius Delamayn’s house i...

And what did the visitors say of the swans? They said, “Oh, what a number of them!”⁠—which was all that was to be said by persons ignorant of the natural history of aquatic birds. And what did the vis...

After a new and attentive reading of Anne’s letter to Geoffrey, and of Geoffrey’s letter to Anne, Bishopriggs laid down comfortably under a tree, and set himself the task of seeing his position plainl...

The time was the night before the marriage. The place was Sir Patrick’s house in Kent. The lawyers had kept their word. The settlements had been forwarded, and had been signed two days since. With the...

The time was the night before the marriage. The place was Sir Patrick’s house in Kent. The lawyers had kept their word. The settlements had been forwarded, and had been signed two days since. With the...

The promise of the weatherglass was fulfilled. The sun shone on Blanche’s marriage. At nine in the morning the first of the proceedings of the day began. It was essentially of a clandestine nature. Th...

Two days after the marriage⁠—on Wednesday, the ninth of September a packet of letters, received at Windygates, was forwarded by Lady Lundie’s steward to Ham Farm. With one exception, the letters were ...

Breakfast was just over. Blanche, seeing a pleasantly-idle morning before her, proposed to Arnold to take a stroll in the grounds. The garden was blight with sunshine, and the bride was bright with go...

The letters to Lady Lundie and to Mr. Crum having been dispatched on Monday, the return of the post might be looked for on Wednesday afternoon at Ham Farm. Sir Patrick and Arnold held more than one pr...

On a certain evening in the month of September (at that period of the month when Arnold and Blanche were traveling back from Baden to Ham Farm) an ancient man⁠—with one eye filmy and blind, and one ey...

On a certain evening in the month of September (at that period of the month when Arnold and Blanche were traveling back from Baden to Ham Farm) an ancient man⁠—with one eye filmy and blind, and one ey...

Julius Delamayn was alone, idly sauntering to and fro, with his violin in his hand, on the terrace at Swanhaven Lodge. The first mellow light of evening was in the sky. It was the close of the day on ...

Julius Delamayn was alone, idly sauntering to and fro, with his violin in his hand, on the terrace at Swanhaven Lodge. The first mellow light of evening was in the sky. It was the close of the day on ...

The scene opens on a bedroom⁠—and discloses, in broad daylight, a lady in bed. Persons with an irritable sense of propriety, whose self-appointed duty it is to be always crying out, are warned to paus...

The scene opens on a bedroom⁠—and discloses, in broad daylight, a lady in bed. Persons with an irritable sense of propriety, whose self-appointed duty it is to be always crying out, are warned to paus...

“I can’t believe it! I won’t believe it! You’re trying to part me from my husband⁠—you’re trying to set me against my dearest friend. It’s infamous. It’s horrible. What have I done to you? Oh, my head...

“I can’t believe it! I won’t believe it! You’re trying to part me from my husband⁠—you’re trying to set me against my dearest friend. It’s infamous. It’s horrible. What have I done to you? Oh, my head...

Arnold’s mind was far from easy when he was left by himself again in the smoking-room. After wasting some time in vainly trying to guess at the source from which Lady Lundie had derived her informatio...

The many-toned murmur of the current of London life⁠—flowing through the murky channel of Drury Lane⁠—found its muffled way from the front room to the back. Piles of old music lumbered the dusty floor...

The many-toned murmur of the current of London life⁠—flowing through the murky channel of Drury Lane⁠—found its muffled way from the front room to the back. Piles of old music lumbered the dusty floor...

A solitary foreigner, drifting about London, drifted toward Fulham on the day of the footrace. Little by little, he found himself involved in the current of a throng of impetuous English people, all f...

A solitary foreigner, drifting about London, drifted toward Fulham on the day of the footrace. Little by little, he found himself involved in the current of a throng of impetuous English people, all f...

It was Saturday, the third of October⁠—the day on which the assertion of Arnold’s marriage to Anne Silvester was to be put to the proof. Toward two o’clock in the afternoon Blanche and her stepmother ...

It was Saturday, the third of October⁠—the day on which the assertion of Arnold’s marriage to Anne Silvester was to be put to the proof. Toward two o’clock in the afternoon Blanche and her stepmother ...

“His lordship is dangerously ill, Sir. Her ladyship can receive no visitors.” “Be so good as to take that card to Lady Holchester. It is absolutely necessary that your mistress should be made acquaint...

“His lordship is dangerously ill, Sir. Her ladyship can receive no visitors.” “Be so good as to take that card to Lady Holchester. It is absolutely necessary that your mistress should be made acquaint...

Early in the present century it was generally reported among the neighbors of one Reuben Limbrick that he was in a fair way to make a comfortable little fortune by dealing in salt. His place of abode ...

Early in the present century it was generally reported among the neighbors of one Reuben Limbrick that he was in a fair way to make a comfortable little fortune by dealing in salt. His place of abode ...

On leaving Lady Lundie’s house, Geoffrey called the first empty cab that passed him. He opened the door, and signed to Anne to enter the vehicle. She obeyed him mechanically. He placed himself on the ...

When does the vain regret find its keenest sting? When is the doubtful future blackened by its darkest cloud? When is life least worth having, and death oftenest at the bedside? In the terrible mornin...

Toward sunset, Lady Holchester’s carriage drew up before the gate of the cottage. Three persons occupied the carriage: Lady Holchester, her eldest son (now Lord Holchester), and Sir Patrick Lundie. “W...

The night had advanced. It was close on twelve o’clock when Anne heard the servant’s voice, outside her bedroom door, asking leave to speak with her for a moment. “What is it?” “The gentleman downstai...

What had happened in the hours of darkness? This was Anne’s first thought, when the sunlight poured in at her window, and woke her the next morning. She made immediate inquiry of the servant. The girl...

“My Confession: To be put into my coffin; and to be buried with me when I die. “This is the history of what I did in the time of my married life. Here⁠—known to no other mortal creature, confessed to ...

“My Confession: To be put into my coffin; and to be buried with me when I die. “This is the history of what I did in the time of my married life. Here⁠—known to no other mortal creature, confessed to ...

“I am the eldest of a large family, born of pious parents. We belonged to the congregation of the Primitive Methodists. “My sisters were all married before me. I remained for some years the only one a...

“My relations all turned their backs on me. Not one of them was present at my marriage; my brother Reuben, in particular, who led the rest, saying that they had done with me from that time forth. Mr. ...

“I have omitted to say anything about my husband’s family. “While we were keeping company together he told me he was an orphan⁠—with an uncle and aunt in Canada, and an only brother settled in Scotlan...

“Having a spirit of my own, I was resolved not to endure it. I ran out to the Police Court, hard by. “My money had not only bought the furniture⁠—it had kept the house going as well; paying the taxes ...

“When I got back the furniture was gone, and my husband was gone. There was nobody but the landlord in the empty house. He said all that could be said⁠—kindly enough toward me, so far as I was concern...

“The thought that had once found its way into my mind already, now found its way back again, and never altogether left me from that time forth. No deliverance for me but in death⁠—his death, or mine. ...

“Magistrates and lawyers; relations and friends; endurance of injuries, patience, hope, and honest work⁠—I had tried all these, and tried them vainly. Look round me where I might, the prospect was clo...

“I have said that people (excepting my husband and my relations) were almost always good to me. “The landlord of the house which we had taken when we were married heard of my sad case. He gave me one ...

“I leave the rest untold, and pass on purposely to the next morning. “No mortal eyes but mine will ever see these lines. Still, there are things a woman can’t write of even to herself. I shall only sa...

“The rest of this history is counted in my mind by four days⁠—Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. After that it all fades off like, and the new years come with a strange look, being the years of a ...

“Saturday.⁠—Marked forever in my calendar as the memorable day on which the judgment descended on me. Toward three o’clock in the afternoon⁠—in the broad sunlight, under the cloudless sky, with hundre...

The servant, appearing the next morning in Anne’s room with the breakfast tray, closed the door with an air of mystery, and announced that strange things were going on in the house. “Did you hear noth...

The new day dawned; the sun rose; the household was astir again. Inside the spare room, and outside the spare room, nothing had happened. At the hour appointed for leaving the cottage to pay the promi...

At a few minutes before six o’clock that evening, Lord Holchester’s carriage brought Geoffrey and Anne back to the cottage. Geoffrey prevented the servant from ringing at the gate. He had taken the ke...

The newspapers have announced the return of Lord and Lady Holchester to their residence in London, after an absence on the continent of more than six months. It is the height of the season. All day lo...

The newspapers have announced the return of Lord and Lady Holchester to their residence in London, after an absence on the continent of more than six months. It is the height of the season. All day lo...

There is a new outburst of affectionate interest on Lady Lundie’s part⁠—met civilly, but not cordially, by Lady Holchester. Julius’s wife seems, like Julius, to be uneasily conscious of the lapse of t...

Note.⁠—There are certain readers who feel a disposition to doubt facts, when they meet with them in a work of fiction. Persons of this way of thinking may be profitably referred to the book which firs...