Page scan source: http://www.archive.org/details/impendingswordno01yate (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) THE IMPENDING SWORD. LONDON: ROBSON AND SONS, PRINTERS, PANCRAS ROAD, N.W. THE IMPENDING SWORD. A Novel. BY EDMUND YATES, AUTHOR OF 'BLACK SHEEP,' 'THE ROCK AHEAD,' 'THE YELLOW FLAG,' ETC. ETC. 'Put we our quarrel to the will of Heaven, Who, when He sees the hours ripe on earth, Will rain hot vengeance on the offenders' heads.' SHAKESPEARE. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: TINSLEY BROTHERS, 8 CATHERINE ST. STRAND. 1874. [_The right of translation, dramatic adaptation, and reproduction is reserved_.] Affectionately inscribed TO MR. AND MRS. J. A. FITHIAN, OF NEW YORK CITY, BY THEIR ATTACHED FRIEND. CONTENTS OF VOL. I. Book the First. THE EMPIRE CITY. CHAP. I. THE CURTAIN RISES. II. THE LETTER OF INSTRUCTIONS. III. THE SHADOW OF PARTING. IV. HELEN'S DIARY. V. AN EXPLANATION. VI. A MYSTERIOUS COMMISSION. VII. CONJUGAL CONFIDENCE. VIII. A WANDERING STAR. IX. A DINNER OF CELEBRITIES. X. NO NONSENSE ABOUT HER. Book the First. THE EMPIRE CITY. CHAPTER I. THE CURTAIN RISES. 'And you really insist upon my going?' 'Insist is not the word. Stay here if you like it better, and amuse yourself by drinking brandy-and-soda-water, which, since your visit to Europe, it seems you cannot do without. All I say is, that I shall go, and if you want to see some pretty women you had better come with me.' 'What did you say the man's name was? and where does he live?' 'His name is Griswold--Alston E. Griswold--and he lives in Fifth-avenue, just above Thirty-sixth-street. He runs a bank, and is all day long in Wall-street, and makes a pile of money, they say. He ought to, for he lives in elegant style.' 'And his wife--he has a wife, I suppose--what is she like? Does she come from New England and sing through her nose, or from out West and drawl like--' 'What stuff you are talking, Redmond! Since you have come back from Europe there is no bearing with you. Why don't you go back to the other side and get yourself made a prince, or a duke, or something?' 'Ay, why don't I? Why, because--however, that is none of your business. Is Mrs. Griswold pretty?' 'Very pretty and excellent style, and always has the nicest people in New York in her house. Let us go and see them;' and the speaker rose from the chair which he was occupying in front of one of the fireplaces of the reading-room of the Union Club, pitching away the butt-end of his cigar and pulling himself together as though preparing for a start. 'Wait a minute,' said his friend, yawning lazily; 'I don't like leaving this fire, it is so confoundedly cold outside.'