Amethyst: The Story of a BeautyColeridge, Christabel R. (Christabel Rose)
General
Amethyst: The Story of a Beauty
Coleridge, Christabel R. (Christabel Rose)
England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction
Three days after that night of watching there was a double funeral in
the cemetery at Bordighera, and the last Baron Haredale, and the only
heir to his title, were laid to rest under a foreign sky, far away from
the home they had forfeited; for there was no money to spare for funeral
journeys, or for ceremonies at the end of them. Haredale was mortgaged
up to its chimney-tops, and the title died with its direct male heirs.
There had been no time for more than telegrams from the solicitors in
charge of the miserable family affairs; but it was hoped that some
provision would be saved out of the wreck for Lady Haredale and her four
young daughters.
There was much talk and much scandal among all the English colonies
along the Riviera, and the misdeeds of the two last Haredales were
whispered in drawing-rooms and discussed in clubs in all quarters.
Nevertheless, the subjects of the scandal had been the possessor of, and
the heir to, an English peerage, and various gentlemen presented
themselves to follow the funeral; while every one looked with pity on
the four tall girls, so young and so handsome, whose condition was all
the more forlorn, because they could not really regret the loss either
of father or brother.
Miss Haredale wept as much for the fall of her family as for the loss of
her brother and nephew; and the white wreath, which Carrie Carisbrooke
laid on Charles Haredale's coffin, symbolised the kindliest feeling he
had ever inspired. Mr Riddell arrived in time to conduct the funeral,
and, by Lucian's express desire, both his mother and Sylvester left his
side to follow it.
Two of the nearest were absent. Lady Haredale would not go, she shut
herself into her room overpowered by a real passion, of what kind her
daughters could hardly tell,--whether of grief for her husband, nervous
fright at the shock of the two sudden deaths, or of chagrin at her
changed position.
"You see, I always liked my poor dear lord so much better than any one
else, at bottom," she said, with tears, to Amethyst; and then she added,
"He was such a protection, I shall have to be so careful in future."
Lady Clyste had fled from the scene of death the moment the watching of
that awful night was over. She would not stay, she cried, as if
passionately repenting the impulse that had brought her to the spot, and
went away from Monte Carlo back to whence she came, so that the brief
hours of the night when they had watched together seemed to Amethyst
like a vision. They did not know where she lived, or the manner of her
life, and she evidently meant to take no part in theirs.
It was not an occasion when plans and intentions could be put off or
left untouched upon, and when the funeral was over, the four sisters
went out, and sat under the olive trees together and talked over the
future that lay before them,--not without a certain renewal of courage,
for was it not far more in their own hands than it had ever been before?
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