Girlhood and Womanhood - The Story of some Fortunes and Misfortunes
162 pages
English

Girlhood and Womanhood - The Story of some Fortunes and Misfortunes

-

Le téléchargement nécessite un accès à la bibliothèque YouScribe
Tout savoir sur nos offres
162 pages
English
Le téléchargement nécessite un accès à la bibliothèque YouScribe
Tout savoir sur nos offres

Description

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Girlhood and Womanhood, by Sarah Tytler This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Girlhood and Womanhood The Story of some Fortunes and Misfortunes Author: Sarah Tytler Release Date: August 29, 2006 [EBook #19140] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIRLHOOD AND WOMANHOOD *** Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Jacqueline Jeremy and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net GIRLHOOD AND WOMANHOOD The Story of some Fortunes and Misfortunes By SARAH TYTLER AUTHOR OF "PAPERS FOR THOUGHTFUL GIRLS," "CITOYENNE JACQUELINE," ETC. ETC. LONDON Wm. ISBISTER, Limited 56, LUDGATE HILL 1883 CONTENTS. Page I. CAIN'S BRAND, 1 ON THE MOOR, 1 THE ORDEAL, 16 "HE LAY DOWN TO SLEEP ON THE MOORLAND 29 SO DREARY," MERCY AND NOT SACRIFICE, 37 II. ON THE STAGE AND OFF THE STAGE, 62 THE "BEAR" AT BATH, 62 LADY BETTY ON THE STAGE, 72 MISTRESS BETTY BECOMES NURSE, 77 MASTER ROWLAND GOES UP TO LONDON, 86 MISTRESS BETTY TRAVELS DOWN INTO 90SOMERSETSHIRE, BETWEEN MOSELY AND LARKS' HALL, 96 III.

Informations

Publié par
Publié le 01 décembre 2010
Nombre de lectures 39
Langue English

Extrait

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Girlhood and Womanhood, by Sarah Tytler
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Girlhood and Womanhood
The Story of some Fortunes and Misfortunes
Author: Sarah Tytler
Release Date: August 29, 2006 [EBook #19140]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIRLHOOD AND WOMANHOOD ***
Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Jacqueline Jeremy and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
GIRLHOOD AND WOMANHOOD
The Story of some Fortunes and Misfortunes
By SARAH TYTLER
AUTHOR OF "PAPERS FOR THOUGHTFUL GIRLS,"
"CITOYENNE JACQUELINE," ETC. ETC.LONDON
Wm. ISBISTER, Limited
56, LUDGATE HILL
1883
CONTENTS.
Page
I. CAIN'S BRAND, 1
ON THE MOOR, 1
THE ORDEAL, 16
"HE LAY DOWN TO SLEEP ON THE MOORLAND 29
SO DREARY,"
MERCY AND NOT SACRIFICE, 37

II. ON THE STAGE AND OFF THE STAGE, 62
THE "BEAR" AT BATH, 62
LADY BETTY ON THE STAGE, 72
MISTRESS BETTY BECOMES NURSE, 77
MASTER ROWLAND GOES UP TO LONDON, 86
MISTRESS BETTY TRAVELS DOWN INTO
90SOMERSETSHIRE,
BETWEEN MOSELY AND LARKS' HALL, 96

III. A CAST IN THE WAGGON, 108
DULCIE'S START IN THE WAGGON FOR HER
108COMPANY,
TWO LADS SEEK A CAST IN THE WAGGON, 113
REDWATER HOSPITALITY, 122
OTHER CASTS FOLLOWING THE CAST IN THE 134
WAGGON,
DULCIE AND WILL, AT HOME IN ST. MARTIN'S
151
LANE,
SAM AND CLARISSA IN COMPANY IN LEICESTER
158SQUARE,
STRIPS SOME OF THE THORNS FROM THE
161
HEDGE AND THE GARDEN ROSES,

IV. ADAM HOME'S REPENTANCE, 167
WILD, WITTY NELLY CARNEGIE, 167
A GALLANT REBUFFED.—NELLY'S PUNISHMENT, 172
A MOURNFUL MARRIAGE EVE, 177
NELLY CARNEGIE IN HER NEW HOME, 179
NELLY'S NEW PASTIMES, 185
THE LAIRD CONSCIENCE-SMITTEN, 186BLESSING AND AFFLICTION.—ADAM HOME'S
192
RETURN,
THE RECONCILIATION AND RETURN TO
197STANEHOLME,

V. HECTOR GARRET OF OTTER, 202
THE FIRE, 202
THE OFFER, 211
THE NEW HOME, 228
THE PAGES OF THE PAST, 236
THE MOTHER AND CHILD, 248
THE STORM, 259

VI. THE OLD YEOMANRY WEEKS, 268
THE YEOMEN'S ADVENT.—PRIORTON SPRUCES
268
ITSELF UP,
A MATCH-MAKER'S SCHEME, 275
A MORNING MEETING AND AN EVENING'S
280
READING,
THE BALL, AND WHAT CAME OF IT, 293

VII. DIANA, 302
AN UNDERTAKING, 302
THE FULFILMENT, 311
HAZARD, 316
THE LAST THROW, 323

VIII. MISS WEST'S CHRISTMAS ADVENTURE, 337
CAIN'S BRAND
I.—ON THE MOOR.
AIN'S BRAND! that is no fact of the far past, no legend of the Middle
Ages, for are there not Cains among us; white-faced, haggard-featuredCCains to the last? Men who began with a little injury, and did not dream
that their gripe would close in deadly persecution? Cains who slew the spirit,
and through the spirit murdered the body? Cains unintentionally, whom all men
free from the stain of blood, and to whom in the Jewish economy the gates of
the Cities of Refuge would have stood wide open, yet who are never again light
of thought and light of heart? On their heads the grey is soon sprinkled, and in
the chamber of their hearts is drawn a ghastly picture, whose freshness fades,
but whose distinct characters are never obliterated.
Of this class of men, of hot passions, with rash advisers, who meditated wrong,
but not the last wrong, victims of a narrow, imperious code of honour, only to-
[Page 2]day expunged from military and social etiquette, was the Laird of the Ewes.
Many of us may have seen such another—a tall, lithe figure, rather bent, and
very white-headed for his age, with a wistful eye; but otherwise a most
composed, intelligent, courteous gentleman of a laird's degree. Take any old
friend aside, and he will tell, with respectful sympathy, that the quiet, sensible,
well-bred Laird, has suffered agonies in the course of his life, though too wiseand modest a man to hold up his heart for daws to peck at, and you will believe
him. Look narrowly at the well-preserved, well-veiled exterior, and you will be
able to detect, through the nicely adjusted folds, or even when it is brightened
by smiles, how remorse has sharpened the flesh, and grief hollowed it, and
long abiding regret shaded it.
Twenty years before this time, Crawfurd of the Ewes, more accomplished than
many of the lairds, his contemporaries, and possessed of the sly humour on
which Scotchmen pride themselves, had been induced to write a set of
lampoons against a political opponent of his special chief. He was young then,
and probably had his literary vanity; at least he executed his task to the
satisfaction of his side of the question; and without being particularly broad and
offensive, or perhaps very fine in their edge, his caricatures excited shouts of
laughter in the parish, and in the neighbouring town.
But he laughs best who laughs last. A brother laird, blind with fury, and having
more of the old border man in him than the Laird of the Ewes, took to his natural
arms, and dispatched Mr. Crawfurd a challenge to fight him on the Corn-Cockle
Moor. No refusal was possible then, none except for a man of rare principle,
[Page 3]nerve, and temper. The Laird of the Ewes had no pretensions to mighty gifts; so
he walked out with his second one autumn morning when his reapers were
flourishing their sickles, met his foe, and though without the skill to defend
himself, he shot his man right through the head. He was tried and acquitted. He
was the challenged, not the challenger; he might have given the provocation,
but no blame was suffered to attach to him. His antagonist, with a foreboding of
his fate, or by way of clearing his conscience, as the knights used to confess of
a morning before combat, had exonerated Mr. Crawfurd before he came upon
the ground. The Court was strongly in his favour, and he was sent back to his
family and property without anything more severe than commiseration; but that
could never reach his deep sore.
How was this gentle, nervous, humorous Laird to look out upon the world, from
which he had sent the soul of a companion who had never even harmed him?
The widow, whom he had admired as a gay young matron, dwelt not a mile
from him in her darkened dwelling; the fatherless boy would constantly cross
the path of his well-protected, well-cared-for children. How bear the thousand
little memories—the trifling dates, acts, words, pricking him with anguish? They
say the man grew sick at the mere sight of the corn-cockle, which, though not
plentiful on other moors, chanced to abound on this uncultivated tract, and
bestowed on it its name; and he shivered as with an ague fit, morning after
morning, when the clock struck the hour at which he had left his house. He did
in some measure overcome this weakness, for he was a man of ordinary
[Page 4]courage and extraordinary reserve, but it is possible that he endured the worst
of his punishment when he made no sign.
The Laird was a man of delicate organism, crushed by a blow from which he
could not recover. Had he lived a hundred years earlier, or been a soldier on
active service, or a student walking the hospitals, he might have been more
hardened to bloodshed. Had his fate been different, he might have borne the
brunt of the offence as well as his betters; but the very crime which he was least
calculated to commit and survive encountered him in the colours he had worn
before the eventful day.
Yet there was nothing romantic about Crawfurd of the Ewes, or about the
details of his deed, with one singular exception, and this was connected with
his daughter Joanna. The rest of the family were commonplace, prosperous
young people, honest enough hearts, but too shallow to be affected by the
father's misfortune. The father's sour grapes had not set these children's teeth
on edge. Joanna—Jack, or Joe, as they called her in sport—whom they all,without any idea of selfishness or injustice, associated with the Laird, as one
member of the family is occasionally chosen to bear the burdens of the others,
—Joanna was papa's right hand, papa's secretary, steward, housekeeper,
nurse. It had always been so; Joanna had been set aside to the office, and no
one thought of depriving her of it, any more than she dreamt of resigning it.
Joanna was the child born immediately after the duel, and on the waxen brow
of the baby was a crimson stain, slight but significant, which two fingers might
[Page 5]have covered. Was this the token of retribution—the threat of vengeance? The
gossips' tongues wagged busily. Some said it was Cain's brand, "the iniquity of
the fathers visited on the children;" others alleged more charitably that it ought
to prove a sign in the Laird's favour, to have the symbol of his guilt transferred to
a scape-goat—the brow of a child. However, the gossips need not have hidden
the child's face so sedulously for the first few days from the mother. Mrs.
Crawfurd took the matter quite peaceably, and was relieved that no worse
misfortune had befallen

  • Univers Univers
  • Ebooks Ebooks
  • Livres audio Livres audio
  • Presse Presse
  • Podcasts Podcasts
  • BD BD
  • Documents Documents