Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net THE MISTRESS OF SHENSTONE By Florence L. Barclay Author Of The Rosary, Etc. Grosset & Dunlap Publishers :: New York ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright, 1910 BY FLORENCE L. BARCLAY The Rosary The Following of the Star The Mistress of Shenstone The Broken Halo Through the Postern Gate The Wall of Partition The Upas Tree My Heart's Right There This edition is issued under arrangement with the publishers G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York and London The Knickerbocker Press, New York ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To C. W. B. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I On the Terrace at Shenstone 1 II The Forerunner 8 III What Peter Knew 23 IV In Safe Hands 48 V Lady Ingleby's Rest-Cure 61 VI At The Moorhead Inn 77 VII Mrs. O'Mara's Correspondence 82 VIII In Horseshoe Cove 105 IX Jim Airth To The Rescue 111 X "Yeo Ho, We Go!" 114 XI 'Twixt Sea And Sky 129 XII Under The Morning Star 152 XIII The Awakening 159 XIV Golden Days 170 XV "Where Is Lady Ingleby?" 190 XVI Under The Beeches At Shenstone 205 XVII "Surely You Knew?" 214 XVIII What Billy Had To Tell 220 XIX Jim Airth Decides 231 XX A Better Point Of View 250 XXI Michael Veritas 260 XXII Lord Ingleby's Wife 271 XXIII What Billy Knew 289 XXIV Mrs. Dalmain Reviews the Situation 303 XXV The Test 327 XXVI "What Shall We Write?" 337 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- THE MISTRESS OF SHENSTONE CHAPTER I ON THE TERRACE AT SHENSTONE Three o'clock on a dank afternoon, early in November. The wintry sunshine, in fitful gleams, pierced the greyness of the leaden sky. The great trees in Shenstone Park stood gaunt and bare, spreading wide arms over the sodden grass. All nature seemed waiting the first fall of winter's snow, which should hide its deadness and decay under a lovely pall of sparkling white, beneath which a promise of fresh life to come might gently move and stir; and, eventually, spring forth.