Her own people

"Oh yes! I know what it is to be hard up myself! I'm hard up now!--but I'll help you in another way. You must marry, Malcolm, my boy! Leave it to me, and I'll find you a rich wi...

Sir Horace, followed by his nephew, made his way briskly to the well, and having cast one searching glance among the crowd, immediately descended the steps, where in a few momen...

"I flatter myself I managed that rather neatly," remarked the Baronet, as he surveyed his nephew with a complacent grin, "an introduction, a _tête-à-tête_, and an invitation, al...

The dinner at Ritter's proved a brilliant affair, but Sir Horace experienced an unexpected disappointment, when he discovered that instead of being a guest at a pleasant little...

Many months had elapsed since Malcolm Haig bartered his heart in exchange for a photograph; he was once more resigned to the monotonous round of regimental duty in an Indian can...

The morning after this unusual conversation Verona awoke with the sensation that something extraordinary had happened; awoke to a vague sense of disaster--a loss of something ou...

Mistress Jean Gowdy was the tenant of a sheep farm on a moor, north of Perth, where by rigorous economy and unwearied industry she and her two sons and daughter contrived to mak...

The Gowdy family was jogging slowly down the valley, which looked brilliant in the early morning. The impetuous river raced alongside its companion, a steady, rutty road, twisti...

Her clothes and personal possessions--such as music, books (and [last, but not least] jewels)--were all that the deposed heiress carried away, when she left London with Mrs. Mel...

At four o'clock in the afternoon the chief event of the day, the Bombay mail, was due at Rajahpore. The railway station was crammed, not merely with passengers, but idlers and l...

As Verona waited alone in this dim, unfamiliar room, her heart throbbed quickly; more than once she caught her breath with an involuntary gasp, for she realized that she was on...

"And you're to have it to yourself!" announced Dominga, with an impressive gesture. "Father made an awful fuss, and had it newly matted, and white-washed, and see! it opens on t...

Was there a lower depth than she had touched? Her grandmother! Verona heard the word with dismay. Had she not yet reached the bottom of the abyss? Once upon a time she could cla...

The visitor wore a long, blue cloth coat, belted with leather, a huge white turban and a venerable white beard. His air and expression of benevolent dignity recalled to Verona t...

The first person she descried was a stout ayah, who descended backwards, carrying an infant over her shoulder; an alert, sharp-looking creature, in a gay hood, with eyes like tw...

Mr. and Mrs. Montagu Jones remained to dine with their relations, and Nani Lopez joined the party, invested in the rich satin purple gown which she had purchased for Blanche's w...

"The big bungalow," as it was called, was large and luxurious; the furniture modern and tasteful. Mrs. Lepell's frequent journeys to England resulted in many pretty things, such...

Verona was now painfully conscious that she could no longer harbour illusions, and had begun to realise her situation, her relations and her home. Her home, large, dark, straggl...

"It is that girl, Aunt Liz, Miss Chandos, she was going to throw herself into the river; you were quite right when you said she would do something. As I was going home, I notice...

The rains were unusually late, and continued unabated till to the end of September, with brief intervals of steamy heat. It was owing to this circumstance that the "new Miss Cha...

We have seen how Verona was affected by her relations, it now remains to exhibit the other side of the shield and to describe her relations, and how they were affected by Verona.

Three weeks elapsed before Verona was convalescent, and during that time, she saw but little of Dominga and her mother; indeed, the attitude of the latter with respect to an inv...

It was an unprecedented honour for Pussy to be invited to tea at the big bungalow, and when Verona had arranged her hair, and dressed her in a white skirt and pink silk blouse,...

"Girls, I have ordered the wagonette for this afternoon," announced Mrs. Chandos, "so we will all go to the club. Verona, you have been here two months, and never once been in t...

As Verona bowled along the road beside Dominga, she felt brave enough to cope with this unprecedented occasion. When she thought of her father's miserable eyes, and agonised app...

In the meanwhile Dominga and Captain Fielder lounged on a bench--conspicuously aloof from the crowd. A somewhat constrained silence had fallen between them; he was wondering if...

Mrs. Barwell, who had never previously had it in her power to patronise any one, now thoroughly enjoyed the novel experience. She issued continual "commands" to Verona and Domin...

It was the second week in January, the date of the Rajahpore race-meeting, the one notable local event in the year. Every bungalow in the station had several tents pitched in it...

The band had played the men back to barracks to the rousing tune of "When Johnny comes marching Home again"; it was eleven o'clock on Sunday morning, and Captain Haig, who had b...

That same Sunday afternoon Mrs. Chandos, having recovered from her "seizure" went out into the front garden in order to "eat the air" in solitude. The Trotters were also abroad,...

The change in Dominga, which had not escaped the sharp eyes of old Nani, gradually became visible to her sister. Dom's whole mind was evidently concentrated on something, or som...

The next event of importance was a grand dinner party given by Mrs. Lepell, to which she invited Verona alone. Mrs. Chandos was loudly indignant because Dominga had been overloo...

"Great lady," and he salaamed to the ground, "protector of the poor, it hath come to my knowledge that Abdul Buk--whose rope is round our necks--will do much for a word from thee."

The tragic fate of Razat Sing and his blind wife made a little stir for a few days in and around Manora, but, unfortunately, these suicides of despair were becoming common; publ...

Mrs. Lepell resolutely refused to dance; she declared that she did not consider it compatible with her responsibility as chaperon. But she chatted to her many friends, and liste...

It was just tiffin-time at the hotel, and Mrs. Lepell, somewhat weary and yawning, was about to summon her two young ladies, when her ayah hurried into her room in breathless ha...

The hot weather had driven most of the residents in Rajahpore to the hills. Mrs. Lepell had departed to Naini Tal, having vainly urged Verona to accompany her, but Verona refuse...

Were she to live to the age of one hundred years Verona could never forget that hot weather at Manora--the memory was burnt into her very soul. It was not merely the absolute de...

Two evenings after this boating party Mr. Lepell and his nephew had a long interview with Mr. Chandos, who heard with astonishment that in Abdul Buk's house in the bazaar part o...

"Oh, ho! yes, it is true what I say," continued Mrs. Chandos, breaking a dead, incredulous silence; "she is no more to us than this book," and she seized a copy of "The Newcomes...

The days which followed her momentous confession were passed by Mrs. Chandos in the darkness and seclusion of her own room (and on the bungalow there fell a sense of extraordina...

The difficulties in the path of his true love had but increased Jimmy Fielder's interest in Dominga--now that Dom was unattainable, she appeared to be almost indispensable to hi...

The marriage and departure of Dominga was a signal for the general break-up of the Chandos household. The bungalow belonged to the factory--and they must all seek another home....

It was five o'clock on a June evening; a day of tropical heat had almost prostrated London, and many people were in the Park, strolling slowly to and fro, or sitting on penny ch...