Category: Novels

Foxglove Manor: A Novel, Volume 3 (of 3)

I can hear the bells ringing in the distance as I write.... Now they cease, and at this very moment the clergyman, “snowy-banded, delicate-handed,” is ascending the pulpit stairs, amid the reverent hush of his congregation.

Chapters

1. CHAPTER XXVIII. A MONKISH TALE (FROM THE NOTE-BOOK).

I can hear the bells ringing in the distance as I write.... Now they cease, and at this very moment the clergyman, “snowy-banded, delicate-handed,” is ascending the pulpit stair...

6. CHAPTER XXXIII. THE NOTE-BOOK AGAIN.

_December 15_.--The first snow fell yesterday. As I write, the air is still darkened with the falling flakes. From here to the village is spread a soft white carpet, ankle-deep....

7. CHAPTER XXXIV. BAITING A MOUSE-TRAP (FROM THE NOTEBOOK).

Yesterday, after that little scene, I carried my swooning-wife up to her room, placed her on the bed, and sent her maid to attend to her. Then I walked off to my den, to have my...

12. CHAPTER XXXIX. GETHSEMANE.

|By this time darkness had fallen, though it was still early in the afternoon. There was a high wind, moaning around among the leafless trees; and, from time to time, flakes of...

8. CHAPTER XXXV. THE ASSIGNATION.

|On the morning after Christmas Day, 18--, the Rev. Charles Santley, vicar of Omberley, rose early from that sweet slumber which only the righteous enjoy, and from those nightly...

11. CHAPTER XXXVIII. TORTURE AND CONFESSION.

|For some minutes he remained kneeling, his strong frame shaken by deep sobs, his lips murmuring some incoherent prayer. Then he felt a touch upon the shoulder. He looked up, sh...

5. CHAPTER XXXII. “FLIEH’! AUF’! HINAUS! IN’S WEITE LAND!

|For several days after that meeting, it seemed to Mrs. Russell that Edith was sickening for a fever. Edith herself was afraid that the terrible trial through which she had pass...

4. CHAPTER XXXI. A LAST APPEAL.

|The night had passed away, and the chilly light of dawn creeping into Edith’s; room, found her quietly sleeping. During that night, when the full horror of her situation had fl...

10. CHAPTER XXXVII. THE DEATH-BED.

|Haldane, like Baptisto, was clad funereally. A long black travelling cloak was wrapped around him, and a Spanish sombrero, also black, was drawn over his forehead. He was ghast...

2. CHAPTER XXIX. HUSH-MONEY.

|Mrs. Haldane had not exaggerated when, in her cross-examination of the vicar, she had described his intimate friendship to Miss Dove as the common talk of the parish. There bea...

13. CHAPTER XL. THREE LETTERS.

|They carried him into the house and laid him on a bed; then, seeing him still speechless, and to all appearance senseless, Miss Santley sent for Dr. Spruce, who lived close by....

3. CHAPTER XXX. “AND LO! WITHIN HER, SOMETHING LEAPT!

|Santley and Edith walked along for some time without a word. At last, after looking round nervously to see that they were not observed or followed, the clergyman broke the sile...

9. CHAPTER XXXVI. A FUNERAL PEAL.

Heard from just underneath, the sound was hideous; for the bell was rusty and old, and jangled with dull vibrations long after each peal had ceased. The minister looked and list...