Amethyst: The Story of a Beauty

On the morning after Miss Grattan's great ball Miss Annabel Haredale sat alone, in the pretty sitting-room assigned to herself and Miss Carisbrooke. She was very unhappy, almost...

"Amethyst, Amethyst, I must talk to you. I can't bear it by myself. Oh, that man, I hate and I loathe him, and my own self! But I can't get him out of my eyes or my mind, his fa...

Three days after that night of watching there was a double funeral in the cemetery at Bordighera, and the last Baron Haredale, and the only heir to his title, were laid to rest...

It was no surprise to Sylvester Riddell, when, as he sat alone on that same morning, in the room appropriated to himself and his home belongings, Lucian Leigh burst in upon him,...

"I found your letter very good reading. Thinking of you far away in Ultima Thule, in the scenes of that dearest of books to my youth, _The Pirate_, quite stirs my blood, and the...

"Oh yes, I always knew that she was Lucian's property. They were marked out for each other from the first. But no man can keep such loveliness all to himself; it is the inherita...

"No, Annabel--no, Amethyst, I shall not go. I am quite sure Charles has not deserved any attention from me. Read the telegram--`Come at once, Charles dying; his own fault. Bring...

He accepted Una's statement without a doubt, and, as was inevitable, it filled him with self-reproach, and the confession of his devotion had seemed but the poorest amends. But...

There ensued for Amethyst some hours which were terrible to endure, and more terrible still to remember. Sir Richard Grattan, not without some dignity, withdrew to lay his case...

One sunny afternoon in spring, Lucian Leigh was sitting on a bench in the garden at Ashfield Mount. Nearly two years had passed since he had left Cleverley in the agony of his g...

The weeks that followed Lucian's accident had been a time of severe trial to Sylvester Riddell. All the responsibility rested on his shoulders of deciding whether they should go...

In the sunny bay-window sat Una Haredale, with a book in her lap, but with eyes eagerly gazing down the pleasant bit of country road, shaded with tall trees and edged with broad...

The last day of July had come, the day that should have been the wedding-day was over and past, the fresh green turf of the Cleverley garden was brown and dry, with long hours o...

Not very long after this abrupt conclusion of so much that had appeared to be but just begun, and in process of continuance, the care-taker at Cleverley Hall uncovered and set t...

The letter, which Amethyst had posted with so much distress of mind, had been answered by a little note from Major Fowler, offering to take charge of the amethysts, if they coul...

When Amethyst found herself, with a shock of surprise, in Sylvester's presence, her first thought was that he had come to plead the cause of Lucian Leigh, and there was a certai...

"When do you suppose Amethyst will find my lady out?" said Kattern and Tory, as they started for the primrose-picking the next day, and Amethyst ran back again to beg her mother...

"I never did see any use in making pretences. People always see through them, and then where are you? If I did try to look as if I had thousands to spare, not a soul would belie...

She could not guess at all what choice Amethyst would be impelled to make, what effect the sight of Lucian would have upon her. She had hardly seemed to heed the discovery that...

A soiree was held at a new and fashionable Art Gallery, the shining lights alike of Fame and Fashion were streaming in at the doors, and spreading themselves through the rooms,...

Mrs Leigh obeyed her son's wish, and made the _amende_ with all the gracious tact that could possibly be shown in dealing with so difficult a situation. It suited Lady Haredale...

"Really, Amethyst, I don't see how I am to manage, if we pay many more visits. You see, all my things were got for the season, and I haven't got an autumn gown or jacket that's...

"I had nothing else fit," said Amethyst; but the words brought back the "new beginning" made once before, and she shrank a little, at the thought of the last ball where she had...

The visitors, who were introduced by Lady Haredale as, "Our neighbours at Ashfield, Mr Leigh, and Mrs Leigh," speedily took their leave. Amethyst had hardly seen them; for the w...

Sylvester Riddell and his father were walking up and down the centre path of the Rectory kitchen-garden, smoking an after-breakfast pipe together, between borders filled with tu...

The wedding was fixed for the middle of July, and, in the middle of June, Lucian went to Toppings to arrange for having it prepared for the reception of his bride. His long mino...

How gay the garden was, with its spring flowers, how successful her hyacinths and tulips, how comfortable her little drawing-room as she sat down by the fire! There would be no...

Lucian Leigh's side of the story did not meet with so favourable a reception. Like Lady Haredale, Mrs Leigh had not taken warning in time, and, while she was thinking of caution...

When the tableaux at Beechgrove were over, and the girls came back to Restharrow, Amethyst, felt as if she had had enough of the Jacksons for the present. She gave herself no ai...

"I told you, mother, I met him in that turfed walk, and he said what I told you. I gave him the packet. Mr Riddell did see us, but I don't think Mrs Leigh did. That was all."

Market Cleverley was a dull little town, within easy reach of London, but on another line from Silverfold. The great feature of its respectable old-fashioned street was the high...

When Lucian left her, Amethyst stood leaning over the stile, which, at the end of the long cypress walk, led through a little wood into the fields. She watched his brisk active...

Amethyst's two lovers went out from her presence into the gaslight and the moonlight, and walked through the still busy streets of the West End, hardly exchanging a word with ea...

"Well, my dear Annabel, very glad to see you. You don't often give me a chance of entertaining you. Come and have some luncheon; one can't talk business on an empty stomach."

While all the bitterness of past wrongs was thus, for Amethyst, softening into a tender haze of memory, it became apparent to Una that a new future was offered to herself.

Lady Haredale was naturally gifted with peculiarly even, cheerful spirits. She had a great capacity for enjoyment, though she had troubles enough to break down a better woman. S...

Matters did not end at once. Interview after interview filled up the rest of that miserable day. Lord Haredale came down from London, apparently already determined to break off...

Amethyst held many more conversations with Oliver Carisbrooke during the next few weeks, with the result that a distinct, though peculiar, relation was established between them....