The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MRS HUMPHREY WARD LONDON JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. 1920 Contents This Table of Contents contains the original chapter headings that were present in the first printed edition of 1848. These headings were removed in later (one-volume) editions of the text, after Anne Brontë’s death in 1849. I. A Discovery II. An Interview III. A Controversy IV. The Party V. The Studio VI. Progression VII. The Excursion VIII. The Present IX. A Snake in the Grass X. A Contract and a Quarrel XI. The Vicar Again XII. A Tête-à-Tête and a Discovery XIII. A Return to Duty XIV. An Assault XV. An Encounter and its Consequences XVI. The Warnings of Experience XVII. Further Warnings XVIII. The Miniature XIX. An Incident XX. Persistence XXI. Opinions XXII. Traits of Friendship XXIII. First Weeks of Matrimony XXIV. First Quarrel XXV. First Absence XXVI. The Guests XXVII. A Misdemeanour XXVIII. Parental Feelings XXIX. The Neighbour XXX. Domestic Scenes XXXI. Social Virtues XXXII. Comparisons: Information Rejected XXXIII. Two Evenings XXXIV. Concealment XXXV. Provocations XXXVI. Dual Solitude XXXVII. The Neighbour Again XXXVIII. The Injured Man XXXIX. A Scheme of Escape XL. A Misadventure XLI. “Hope Springs Eternal in the Human Breast” XLII. A Reformation XLIII. The Boundary Past XLIV. The Retreat XLV. Reconciliation XLVI. Friendly Counsels XLVII. Startling Intelligence XLVIII. Further Intelligence XLIX. L. Doubts and Disappointments LI. An Unexpected Occurrence LII. Fluctuations LIII. Conclusion LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Portrait of Anne Brontë Moorland Scene, Haworth Moorland scene (with water): Haworth Moorland scene (with cottage), Haworth Blake Hall—The Approach (Grassdale Manor) Blake Hall—Front (Grassdale Manor) Blake Hall—Side (Grassdale Manor) [Illustration] INTRODUCTION Anne Brontë serves a twofold purpose in the study of what the Brontës wrote and were. In the first place, her gentle and delicate presence, her sad, short story, her hard life and early death, enter deeply into the poetry and tragedy that have always been entwined with the memory of the Brontës, as women and as writers; in the second, the books and poems that she wrote serve as matter of comparison by which to test the greatness of her two sisters. She is the measure of their genius—like them, yet not with them.