England -- Fiction; Strikes and lockouts -- Fiction
Private asylums are expensive, and Miss Gwinn could only maintain her
sister in one at the cost of giving up her own home. Ill-conditioned
though she was, we must confess she had her troubles. She gave it up
without a murmur: she would have given up her life to benefit either of
those, her young sisters. Retaining but a mere pittance, she devoted all
her means to the comfort of Elizabeth, and found a home with her
brother, in Ketterford. Where she spent her days bemoaning the lost and
cherishing a really insane hatred against Mr. Lewis--a desire for
revenge. She had never come across him, until that Easter Monday, at
Ketterford. And that, you will say, is scarcely correct, since it was
not himself she met then, but his brother. Deceived by the resemblance,
she attacked Mr. Henry Hunter in the manner you remember; and Austin
Clay saved him from the gravel-pit. But the time soon came when she
stood face to face with _him_. It was the hour she had so longed for:
the hour of revenge. What revenge? But for the wicked lie she
subsequently forged, there could have been no revenge. The worst she
could have proclaimed was, that James Lewis Hunter, when he was a young
man, had so far forgotten his duty to himself, and to the world's
decencies, as to contract a secret marriage. He might have got over
that. He had mourned his young wife sincerely at the time, but later
grew to think that all things were for the best--that it was a serious
source of embarrassment removed from his path. Nothing more or less had
he to acknowledge.
What revenge would Miss Gwinn have reaped from this? None. Certainly
none to satisfy one so vindictive as she. It never was clear to herself
what revenge she had desired: all her efforts had been directed to the
discovering of him. She found him a man of social ties. He had married
Louisa Bevary; he had a fair daughter; he was respected by the world:
all of which excited the anger of Miss Gwinn.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account