Blind -- Fiction; Guardian and ward -- Fiction; Love stories; Marriage -- Fiction; Mental illness -- Fiction
The year which followed their arrival at Sunnybank was a year of
wretchedness and pining home-sickness on the part of both mistress
and maid, until at last the former, with her love for her husband
changed to hate, determined to leave him; and in his absence,
planned the visit to Tallahassee, going instead to New York, where
she died at the house of Mrs. Jamieson, Marie's sister. Even to
the last, the dread of her hated husband prevailed, and she made
Marie swear that her child should not go back to him.
"She will be happier to be poor," she said, "and I would rather
far that not a cent of the Bernard property should ever come into
her possession than that she should return to Sunnybank; but
sometime, Marie, when she is older, you may tell her my sad story,
and if he has become a better man, tell her who she is, and of the
bright-haired Nina. They will love each other, I am sure, for Nina
possesses nothing in common with her father, and lest she should
think ill of me for having married him, tell her how young, how
inexperienced I was, and how he deceived me, withholding even his
real name."
This was the point on which Petrea dwelt the most, shrinking, with
a kind of pride, from having it generally known, and persisting in
calling herself Temple to Mrs. Jamieson, who supposed this to be
her real name, inasmuch as Marie had called her so on the occasion
of her first visit after landing in New York the year previous,
and before the deception had been confessed.
"Don't undeceive her," Petrea said to Marie, who did her
mistress's bidding; and as Mrs. Jamieson was sick when Mr. Bernard
came, she did not see him, and was thus effectually kept in
ignorance that Edith's real name was Marguerite Bernard, else she
had divulged it to Richard, when in after years he came inquiring
for her parentage.
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