Sharing Her Crime: A Novel

For many long weeks after the fatal night of her marriage, Gipsy lay hovering between life and death; and Celeste came, with her loving heart, and gentle voice, and noiseless fo...

The sunshine of a breezy June morning fell pleasantly into the chamber of the invalid. It was a bright, airy room--a perfect paradise of a sick chamber--with its snowy curtained...

"Lay on him the curse of a withered heart, The curse of a sleepless eye; Till he wish and pray that his life would part, Nor yet find leave to die."--SCOTT.

"His youthful form was middle size, For feat of strength or exercise Shaped in proportion fair; And dark-blue was his eagle eye, And auburn of the darkest dye His short and curl...

"Then come the wild weather, come sleet, or snow, We will stand by each other, however it blow-- Oppression, and sickness, and sorrow, and pain, Shall be to our true love as lin...

"Fond girl! no saint nor angel he Who wooes thy young simplicity; But one of earth's impassioned sons, As warm in love, as fierce in ire, As the best heart whose current runs Fu...

The jingle of the approaching sleigh-bells, which had frightened Dr. Wiseman from the beach, had been unheard by the drunken nurse; but ten minutes after she had left, a sleigh...

"She looked to the river--looked to the hill-- And thought on the spirit's prophecy; Then broke the silence stern and still: 'Not you, but Fate, has vanquished me.'" LAY OF THE...

A week after the event recorded in the last chapter Archie went back to the city. Before he went, he had obtained a promise from Gipsy--who had grown strangely still and gentle...

"This morn is merry June, I trow, The rose is budding fain; But she shall bloom in winter snow, Ere we two meet again. He turned his charger as he spoke, Upon the river shore; H...

Year after year glides away, and we wonder vaguely that they can have passed. On our way to the grave we may meet many troubles, but time obliterates them all, and we learn to l...

The winter was now drawing on. The short, bleak November days had come, with their chill winds and frosty mornings. Miss Hagar looked at the slight, delicate form and pale littl...

Among the villagers of St. Mark's, the mad-headed, wild-eyed, fearless Gipsy Gower was a universal favorite. Not one among them but had received from her warm heart and generous...

It was Christmas Eve. All day long crowds of gayly dressed people had walked the streets, basking in the bright wintry sunshine. Sleigh after sleigh went dashing past, with merr...

The effect of Archie's announcement on our party may be imagined. Lizzie uttered a stifled shriek and fell back in her seat; the squire's eyes protruded until they seemed ready...

"Give me the boon of love-- Renown is but a breath, Whose loudest echo ever floats From out the halls of death. A loving eye beguiles me more Than Fame's emblazon'd seal; And on...

The darkened rooms, the hushed footfalls, the whispered words, the anxious faces, betoken the presence of sickness. Like some long, dark effigy, Miss Hagar lies on her bed, pros...

In the golden glow of the morning, Minnette Wiseman stood at the door, gazing out--not watching the radiant beauties of nature--not listening to the sweet singing of the birds--...

"All other passions have their hour of thinking, And hear the voice of reason. This alone Breaks at the first suspicion into frenzy, And sweeps the soul in tempests."--SHAKESPEARE.

In his easy-chair, with his gouty legs, swathed in flannels, reposing on two others, lay our old friend the squire, literally "laid up by the legs." In the opposite corner was L...

"Oh, her smile it seemed half holy, As if drawn from thoughts more fair Than our common jestings are; And if any painter drew her, He would paint her, unaware, With a halo round...

It was early afternoon of that same day on which the events related in the last chapter occurred. Squire Erliston, in after-dinner mood, sat in his arm-chair; Louis lay idly on...

"Let me gaze for a moment, that ere I die, I may read thee, lady, a prophecy: That brow may beam in glory awhile, That cheek may bloom, and that lip may smile; But clouds shall...

The moonlight was falling brightly on the lawn, and shimmering like silver sheen on the leaves of the horse-chestnuts, as Gipsy rode home. The company had just dispersed, and th...

"At this Sir Knight grew high in wrath, And lifting hands and eyes up both, Three times he smote his stomach stout, From whence, at length, fierce words broke out." HUDIBRAS.

"I have loved thee, thou gentlest, from a child, And borne thine image with me o'er the sea-- Thy soft voice in my soul! Speak! oh, yet live for me!" --HEMANS.

"It is a fearful night; a feeble glare Streams from the sick moon in the overclouded sky, The ridgy billows, with a mighty cry, Rush on the foamy beaches wild and bare. What bar...

"Then on his cheek the flush of rage O'ercame the ashen hue of age; Fierce he broke forth; 'And dar'st thou, then, To beard the lion in his den, The Douglas in his hall?'"--MARM...

"Bride, upon thy marriage-day, Did the fluttering of thy breath Speak of joy or woe beneath? And the hue that went and came On thy cheek like waving flame, Flowed that crimson f...

In the spring Louis and Archie were to go to New York and enter college. The squire, who was dying by inches of the inaction at Sunset Hall, resolved to accompany them; and Lizz...

----"Pray for the dead-- Why for the dead, who are at rest? Pray for the living, in whose breast The struggle between right and wrong Is raging, terrible and strong."--LONGFELLOW.

"Minnette, do not look so wildly. Good heaven! who would ever think of seeing you here, and in such disguise?" he added, still scarcely able to realize it was Minnette who stood...

Lights were already gleaming in the cottages of the villagers, and the large parlor of the "Inn of St. Mark's" was crowded--every one discussing the surprising wedding up at the...

Great was the excitement and consternation which the news of Dr. Wiseman's crime and arrest created in St. Mark's and the neighboring city. The peculiar and romantic circumstanc...

"Gipsy, my dear, come here and sit beside me. I have something very important to say to you," said the squire, as, half an hour later, he caught sight of Gipsy, running, singing...

He approached the bed, and softly drew back the heavy, dark curtains. Lying there, in a troubled sleep, lay a young girl, whose face was whiter than the pillow which supported h...

It was the afternoon of the following day. The squire sat alone, muttering to himself: "Singular! most singular! most ex-_cess_-ively singular! wants a private interview, eh! Wh...

"Fixed was her look and stern her air; Back from her shoulders streamed her hair; Her figure seemed to rise more high; Her voice, Despair's wild energy Had given a tone of proph...

"He fed on poisons, and they had no power, But were a kind of nutriment; he lived Through that which had been death to many men. To him the book of night was opened wide, And vo...