Produced by Daniel Fromont. HTML version by Al Haines. COLLECTION OF BRITISH AUTHORS TAUCHNITZ EDITION. VOL. 1809. VIXEN BY M. E. BRADDON IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. TAUCHNITZ EDITION. VIXEN A NOVEL BY M. E. BRADDON, AUTHOR OF "LADY AUDLEY'S SECRET," ETC. ETC. _COPYRIGHT EDITION_. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. By the same Author, LADY AUDLEY'S SECRET 2 vols. AURORA FLOYD 2 vols. ELEANOR'S VICTORY 2 vols. JOHN MARCHMONT'S LEGACY 2 vols. HENRY DUNBAR 2 vols. THE DOCTOR'S WIFE 2 vols. ONLY A CLOD 2 vols. SIR JASPER'S TENANT 2 vols. THE LADY'S MILE 2 vols. RUPERT GODWIN 2 vols. DEAD-SEA FRUIT 2 vols. RUN TO EARTH 2 vols. FENTON'S QUEST 2 vols. THE LOVELS OF ARDEN 2 vols. STRANGERS AND PILGRIMS 2 vols. LUCIUS DAVOREN 3 vols. TAKEN AT THE FLOOD 3 vols. LOST FOR LOVE 2 vols. A STRANGE WORLD 2 vols. HOSTAGES TO FORTUNE 2 vols. DEAD MEN'S SHOES 2 vols. JOSHUA HAGGARD'S DAUGHTER 2 vols. WEAVERS AND WEFT 1 vol. IN GREAT WATERS & OTHER TALES 1 vol. AN OPEN VERDICT 3 vols. LEIPZIG BERNHARD TAUCHNITZ 1879. _The Right of Translation is reserved_. CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. CHAPTER I. A Pretty Horsebreaker CHAPTER II. Lady Jane Vawdrey CHAPTER III. "I Want a Little Serious Talk with You" CHAPTER IV. Rorie comes of Age CHAPTER V. Rorie makes a Speech CHAPTER VI. How She took the News CHAPTER VII. Rorie has Plans of his own CHAPTER VIII. Glas ist der Erde Stolz und Glueck CHAPTER IX. A House of Mourning CHAPTER X. Captain Winstanley CHAPTER XI. "It shall be Measure for Measure" CHAPTER XII. "I have no Wrong, where I can claim no Right" CHAPTER XIII. "He belongs to the Tame-Cat Species" CHAPTER XIV. "He was worthy to be loved a Lifetime" CHAPTER XV. Lady Southminster's Ball CHAPTER XVI. Rorie asks a Question CHAPTER XVII. Where the Red King was slain VIXEN. CHAPTER I. A Pretty Horsebreaker. The moon had newly risen, a late October moon, a pale almost imperceptible crescent, above the dark pine spires in the thicket through which Roderick Vawdrey came, gun in hand, after a long day's rabbit-shooting. It was not his nearest way home, but he liked the broad clearing in the pine wood, which had a ghostly look at dusk, and was so still and lonely that the dart of a squirrel through the fallen leaves was a startling event. Here and there a sturdy young oak that had been newly stripped of its bark lay among the fern, like the naked corpse of a giant. Here and there a tree had been cut down and slung across the track, ready for barking. The ground was soft and spongy, slippery with damp dead leaves, and inclined in a general way to bogginess; but it was ground that Roderick Vawdrey had known all his life, and it seemed more natural to him than any other spot upon mother earth.