Dime novels; Romances; Social classes -- Fiction; Young women -- Conduct of life -- Fiction
Upon their arrival at Liverpool, she was so weak and wan that Mr.
Coolidge and Wilbur were obliged to bear her in their arms from the boat
to the carriage which was to convey them to their hotel, much to the
annoyance and disgust of Isabel and her mother.
Adrian Dredmond had waited in vain for the opportunity he had so
desired. He had not once seen Brownie during the voyage. He stood by
when they carried her to the carriage, and a feeling of pain smote his
heart as he saw her wan face and sunken eyes.
“I cannot give it to her now, but I will seek an opportunity. I will see
her again,” he breathed to himself.
They lifted her into the carriage, shut the door, and drove away.
“Brownie Douglas—the name is as sweet as she looks—good-by, my Brownie;
we shall meet again,” he murmured; and, with a deep tenderness in his
heart for her Adrian Dredmond went his own way.
From Liverpool, the Coolidges, after a few days of rest went to London,
where they proposed establishing their headquarters for three or four
months, while they made excursions about the country.
Here they took a house in the neighborhood of Regent’s Park, and, to
Isabel’s delight, entered at once upon the gayeties of the season.
Brownie’s heart is stirred with various emotions as she finds herself
thus settled among the very scenes of her aunt’s former life.
Here Miss Mehetabel lived when she was a girl; here she was wooed and
won; here she had lived that short, bright year, loving and beloved, and
which was followed by a lifetime of mourning and sadness.
She wondered if Lord Dunforth were still living, and if it would be her
lot while abroad to meet him. She hoped so; and she was confident that
she should recognize him, from the picture which was now in her
possession, even though so many years had passed, and he was an old man
of over sixty.
Of course, she never expected to meet him as an equal, or even speak to
him; but she longed for just one look into his face, to see if he had
fulfilled the promise of his early manhood, and to assure herself that
he was the noble, high-minded knight which her little romantic heart had
pictured him from Miss Mehetabel’s description.
During the first hours of the day Miss Douglas and her pupils dived deep
into the mystic lore; and so charming did she make their studies, and so
interested did she appear in everything pertaining to their welfare,
that, to their credit be it said, they applied themselves with the
utmost diligence to their tasks, and soon gave promise of becoming quite
proficient.
The afternoons were devoted to sightseeing and riding, the evenings to
receiving company, attending drawing-rooms, the opera, or the theatre.
One morning Wilbur came home in considerable excitement, and throwing
some tickets upon the table, said:
“There, mother, are some tickets for her majesty’s opera, and I want
every member of this family to attend, for there are wonderful
attractions to-night.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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