The lily of Mordaunt

Dear Phil--I promised when we were all at home that I would send for you. We are a gay party, I can tell you--five constitute our number, and we need only your own jolly self to...

Both had died in the far East, the captain from a bullet wound received with his face to the enemy, his gentle, idolizing wife from grief over her husband’s untimely and tragic...

Some delightful excursion, drive or entertainment was planned for every day, and the guests of Sir Anthony and Lady Hamilton were indeed a “gay party,” as Wil had prophesied the...

An hour after, Wil returned comparatively calm and in a much more rational frame of mind. He had worked off a good deal of his internal wickedness at the oars, and the season of...

Wilton Hamilton, after obeying his mother’s summons and attending to her request, went to seek Elaine again in the little room whither he had taken her to show her his lily.

Wil Hamilton went directly to his father upon his return with Lady Elaine from the forest, and told him that he had won her for his wife, asking, as a mere matter of form--for,...

Philip Paxton was wretched from his losses and disappointment, yet, with the determination not to succumb, and with his new object in view, he strove to keep up an appearance of...

“Miss Wentworth! I--excuse me--did I understand you aright? What reason can you have for doubting my assertion?” Philip Paxton asked, looking exceedingly astonished and somewhat...

forward and unmaidenly, while, for the world, I would not have you or any one else suspect that I had given you my love unsolicited, and so I concealed my feelings under an assu...

She had been perfectly amazed when Philip Paxton made known the fact of his engagement to Arley, and as soon as she could catch her by herself, she assailed her with the above q...

As already intimated, the wedding was to be a very quiet affair, for the orphaned girl had no near relatives who were able to take the burden and care of a large merry-making.

The young stranger appeared to be “every inch” the lady, and Arley wondered more and more who she could be and what she could want, that she should thus come to her on her weddi...

Could it be possible that the girl had only come to them, as she said, to establish her identity, and was now willing to return to the toil and obscurity of the life which she h...

She went tremblingly, a sort of mist coming over her eyes so that she could not see distinctly; but as she came close to it she bent forward and scanned it eagerly.

Ina Wentworth stood in deep thought for several moments after her friend had gone, then, with a resolute air, she walked directly across the room, and stood before Philip Paxton.

That last name came hard to her, and with a sob, for she realized as she spoke how entirely another would henceforth occupy the place which hitherto had belonged to her alone.

Philip was almost helpless in making arrangements, for his French was very poor; but Arley could speak it like a native, and chattered volubly while driving her close bargain wi...

“From this time, no matter what comes--excepting accident or ill-health--I am mistress of my own career,” Arley said to herself, as, with a firm, quick step, she wended her way...

A few days later, as Philip was returning to his lodgings about four o’clock in the afternoon, he saw, just ahead of him, the figure of his wife, walking with quick, graceful st...

Arley awoke, weary and unrefreshed, the next morning. She had experienced a sense of protection and safety while abiding beneath the same roof with Philip, even though she saw s...

“But how happens it that ye’r alone in this strange country--that you’ve no one to go with ye to take care of ye?” she added, with a keen glance into the fair, flushed face.

“Dearie, it breaks my heart to go and leave ye like this! If it wasn’t that my old man and me have never been parted for the thirty years we’ve lived together, and it turns me c...

He saw, too, that she was comparatively helpless in this disagreeable predicament, and that, from the lack of witnesses in her favor, the case was likely to prove a hard battle.

“I am very glad to know you, Sir Charles,” Arley said, her eyes lingering on the pleasant-sounding English name, while her heart quickened its pulsations as she thought perhaps...

Sir Charles’ kind heart ached for the fair, beautiful woman who had just taken leave of the man who should have interposed himself between her and all evil, instead of trying to...

She could not at first believe the terrible news that had come to them from across the broad Atlantic; she could not believe that Wil--tender, noble Wil Hamilton--was dead; was...

“I suppose I must bear your mistrust and displeasure, my lady, as best I can, since I have no means beyond my simple word, of proving my assertions,” Philip replied, with an ass...

True to her promise, Lady Elaine went the next day to see her _protegee_, if such Jane Collins could be called; and she continued her visits to her as long as she was an invalid...

Philip had consulted an eminent and not over-scrupulous brother lawyer--laid his case before him, and learned that it would not be a very difficult matter to obtain a divorce fr...

She was in search of the captain of that vessel--the _Black Swan_, Jane Collins told her was the name of it--which had picked up that unhappy father and mother so many years ago...

Many weeks went by, and one would scarcely have recognized in the quiet, hard-working lawyer, who toiled early and late with such persistence and energy, the idle, defiant, unpr...

She had been telling her something of Jane Collins, and her meeting with Arley in Madrid, and of the story which had been elicited by Arley’s resemblance to the beautiful lady w...

It pained her to arouse the woman’s sorrows like this, and yet she felt that if she could throw any light upon the mystery which she was seeking to unravel, it was no more than...

He had occasion one day to go to Greenwich upon important business for a client, and as he was anxious to get back just as soon as possible, he resolved to go by the underground...

Philip’s face lighted; if he took the boy to rear and educate he would prefer not to be hampered by relatives--it would be much better and pleasanter for both of them to have no...

“Oh, do not let me disarrange your plans!” Arley exclaimed, quickly. “I can go alone--the journey from Paris to Calais is so direct; while it will not be very much to cross the...

True to her promise, Miss McAllister sent a messenger early the next morning to inform Lady Elaine of Arley’s return; but to the great disappointment of the whole family, he bro...

“I am glad, at all events, to get my jewels back,” she added, as she eyed them fondly, lifting each piece with tender, caressing fingers, and recalling the friends who had given...

A note was brought to her from Sir Anthony Hamilton saying that he had just received a letter from Lady Hamilton containing the intelligence that the housekeeper at Hazelmere wa...

Perhaps it was because of his condition, and the fact that he was an orphan, which appealed to her sympathies; or it might be on account of his evident love for art; at all even...

Arley was literally stricken dumb by this wonderful intelligence. She could only rest in those clinging arms and stare helplessly up into Lady Elaine’s face, her own as white as...

They had imagined every possible solution to the mystery as they now thought, but all fell far short of the right one; and now Miss McAllister seemed almost to feel as if Arley...

She went close up to him and bent down to study his face. His features were very peaceful in their unconscious repose, and those evil lines which she remembered so well had all...

“Arley, I have not deserved this from you,” Philip said, in a tremulous tone, “it would have been but just if you had left me to die without a thought.”

Philip’s convalescence was quite rapid after the events related in the last chapter; happiness is a great restorer, and he began to gain strength so fast that the surgeon told h...

Sir Charles Herbert and Ina Wentworth rode nearly an hour in Rotten Row among the _elite_, who gathered there to display their elegant costumes and thoroughbreds, when they turn...

Not a thought of danger or a suspicion of the terrible ordeal which lay before him entered his mind or cast a shadow over the bright hopes which animated him.

“You do love them, or you never would have said that,” Wil returned, earnestly, and deeply touched by the pretty smile; “and so do I. I am very thankful to you for thinking of m...

We left Arley, after her meeting with Wil before the druggist’s store, in Lady Elaine’s boudoir, whither she had been led by the gentle girl, agitated and almost unnerved in vie...

A few days brought a reply, as fond and tender as the most exacting heart could wish; but Philip said he could not return just yet. He hoped it would not take him much longer to...