Soon after their marriage her portrait had been taken by the best
artist in the town, and this he determined to procure as a memento of
the few happy days he had spent with Helena. But the cottage where he
left her was now occupied by strangers, and after many inquiries, he
learned that the portrait, together with some of the furniture, had
been sold to pay the rent, which became due soon after his departure.
His next thought was to visit her parents, but from this his natural
timidity shrank. They would reproach him, he thought, with the death of
their daughter, whom he had so deeply wronged, and not possessing
sufficient courage to meet them face to face, he again started for
home, bearing a sad heart, which scarcely again felt a thrill of joy
until the morning when he first met with ’Lena, whose exact resemblance
to her mother so startled him as to arouse the jealousy of his wife.
It would be both needless and tiresome to enumerate the many ways and
means by which Lucy Bellmont sought to ensnare him. Suffice it to say,
that she at last succeeded, and he married her, finding in the
companionship of her son more real pleasure than he ever experienced in
her society. After a time Mrs. Graham, growing weary of Charleston,
where her haughty, overbearing manner made her unpopular, besought her
husband to remove, which he finally did, going to Louisville, where he
remained until the time of his removal to Woodlawn. Fully believing
what the old nurse had told him of the death of his wife and child, he
had no idea of the existence of the latter, though often in the
stillness of night the remembrance of the little girl whom Durward had
pointed out to him in the cars, arose before him, haunting him with
visions of the past, but it was not until he met her at Maple Grove
that he entertained a thought of her being his daughter.
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