The Attic Guest: A Novel

This story, which the authoress herself entitled "The Attic Guest," would probably have never been given to the world but for an incidental visit which I paid to a certain manse...

One other thing, too, I must tell in my defense. I was _pushed_ in. A dearer and more devoted mother than mine no girl ever had. But this I will dare to say--and I am old enough...

"Shouldn't wonder if the dominie's shadowin' him," uncle ventured gravely; "lookin' for a job, you see--this'll be worth two hundred to him at the least, won't it, Helen?" as he...

"That depends on what you call brutality, sir," my uncle answered, his voice suddenly intense, his eyes fixed very earnestly on his guest. "We reckon here, sir--all Southern gen...

Charlie gave a little gasp. "We're at our devotions right now ourselves," he said, so low that uncle could not hear. Then we had a swift little debate. I was for prayers, and Ch...

"You're trifling with me, sir," said my Uncle Henry chokingly, rising as he spoke. I saw the quick pallor come to the cheek of my Aunt Agnes; as for my mother, she was fairly tr...

To which proposal I gave swift assent--outwardly, at least. And as we walked along I marvelled at the restraint of the strong man beside me. I knew, or felt, rather, that his he...

I believe there's no place where a girl so feels the trembling joy of love as in her own little room when first she returns to it with her lips still moist from the sacramental...

They lay together, those little offshoots of an unhappy race, their own life tragedy past and done. Dripping they lay, the peace of death upon their faces, as though the relentl...

"It's morning now," he said firmly, "and I'm just ready to go," from which resolve I was powerless to dissuade him. "I'll stay at the hotel till to-morrow evening," he added.

"Certainly, certainly," said Mr. Ashton loftily, knitting his brows the while, "to a certain extent, that is. But the old doctrines are good enough for me. And--as I was saying,...

"No, I don't think they belong to St. Andrew's," I heard Gordon a moment later; "not as far as I know, at least. They're very poor, I should fancy, from the quarter they live in."

"We'll call him Gordon," I said decisively--"that's a good Presbyterian name. I called him that this morning, all alone, and he looked up and cooed like as if he understood."

It was our daughter's birthday night, and Gordon had asked some friends to dinner. For, as I should have said before, he was simply crazy about Dorothy, which was the name we ha...

Grandfather had been with us long--I cannot say exactly how long--before matters actually came to a crisis. But I think he felt from the beginning, with the keen instinct of his...

"Look at mother," Harold broke out vehemently; "look at mother's dress. It's the same one she's had for years--and it's mended," he added in fiery sadness, "and it's the only on...

When we knelt to pray I slipped over to Gordon's chair, and we bowed together, his hand tight clasped in mine. I prayed for Gordon all the time we were bended thus, my heart ful...

"Oh, only this; when anybody has a sorrow so much greater--like ours--financial troubles don't amount to much. I want Harold--oh, Helen, I want our boy back again," with which h...

Going back to the church was gladsome enough to me. But it was the veriest trifle compared with our return to the dear old manse, where our children had been born. What memories...

His question cut me like a knife. For I had kept back part of our life's story, the bitter part, when uncle had enquired about our children. We only brought one of them, I had s...