A BANKRUPT HEART. A BANKRUPT HEART. BY FLORENCE MARRYAT, AUTHOR OF ‘LOVE’S CONFLICT,’ ‘MY OWN CHILD,’ ‘PARSON JONES,’ ETC., ETC. _IN THREE VOLUMES._ VOL. I. LONDON: F. V. WHITE & CO., 14 BEDFORD STREET, STRAND, W.C. 1894. _This story being already dramatised, all rights are reserved._ _CONTENTS._ PAGE CHAPTER I. 1 CHAPTER II. 26 CHAPTER III. 40 CHAPTER IV. 60 CHAPTER V. 87 CHAPTER VI. 120 CHAPTER VII. 144 CHAPTER VIII. 168 CHAPTER IX. 186 CHAPTER X. 213 A BANKRUPT HEART. A BANKRUPT HEART. CHAPTER I. Miss Llewellyn was standing at the window of her own room, in the house of Lord Ilfracombe in Grosvenor Square, gazing at the dust-laden and burnt-up leaves and grass in the gardens before her. It was an afternoon towards the close of July, and all the fashionable world was already out of town. Miss Llewellyn had been reared in the country, and she could not help thinking how that same sun that had burnt up all the verdure of which London could boast, had glorified the vegetation of far-off Wales. How it must have enriched the pasture lands, and ripened the waving corn, and decked the very hedges and ditches with beautiful, fresh flowers, which were to be had for the gathering. Her thoughts went back to rural Usk where King Arthur built a bower for Guinevere, and in fancy she felt the cool air blowing over its fragrant fields and woods. She heaved a deep sigh as she remembered the place of her birth, and, as if in reproach for such heresy to her present condition, she drew a letter from her pocket and opened its pages.