NEW BERTHA CLAY LIBRARY No. 50
A WOMAN’S TRUST
_BY_
BERTHA M. CLAY
[Illustration]
_STREET & SMITH CORPORATION, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK_
A FAVORITE OF MILLIONS
New Bertha Clay Library
LOVE STORIES WITH PLENTY OF ACTION
PRICE, FIFTEEN CENTS
_The Author Needs No Introduction_
Countless millions of women have enjoyed the works of this author. They
are in great demand everywhere. The following list contains her best
work, and is the only authorized edition.
These stories teem with action, and what is more desirable, they are
clean from start to finish. They are love stories, but are of a type
that is wholesome and totally different from the cheap, sordid fiction
that is being published by unscrupulous publishers.
There is a surprising variety about Miss Clay’s work. Each book in this
list is sure to give satisfaction.
_ALL TITLES ALWAYS IN PRINT_
1--In Love’s Crucible By Bertha M. Clay
2--A Sinful Secret By Bertha M. Clay
3--Between Two Loves By Bertha M. Clay
4--A Golden Heart By Bertha M. Clay
5--Redeemed by Love By Bertha M. Clay
6--Between Two Hearts By Bertha M. Clay
7--Lover and Husband By Bertha M. Clay
8--The Broken Trust By Bertha M. Clay
9--For a Woman’s Honor By Bertha M. Clay
10--A Thorn in Her Heart By Bertha M. Clay
11--A Nameless Sin By Bertha M. Clay
12--Gladys Greye By Bertha M. Clay
13--Her Second Love By Bertha M. Clay
14--The Earl’s Atonement By Bertha M. Clay
15--The Gipsy’s Daughter By Bertha M. Clay
16--Another Woman’s Husband By Bertha M. Clay
17--Two Fair Women By Bertha M. Clay
18--Madolin’s Lover By Bertha M. Clay
19--A Bitter Reckoning By Bertha M. Clay
20--Fair but Faithless By Bertha M. Clay
21--One Woman’s Sin By Bertha M. Clay
22--A Mad Love By Bertha M. Clay
23--Wedded and Parted By Bertha M. Clay
24--A Woman’s Love Story By Bertha M. Clay
25--’Twixt Love and Hate By Bertha M. Clay
26--Guelda By Bertha M. Clay
27--The Duke’s Secret By Bertha M. Clay
28--The Mystery of Colde Fell By Bertha M. Clay
29--One False Step By Bertha M. Clay
30--A Hidden Terror By Bertha M. Clay
31--Repented at Leisure By Bertha M. Clay
32--Marjorie Deane By Bertha M. Clay
33--In Shallow Waters By Bertha M. Clay
34--Diana’s Discipline By Bertha M. Clay
35--A Heart’s Bitterness By Bertha M. Clay
36--Her Mother’s Sin By Bertha M. Clay
37--Thrown on the World By Bertha M. Clay
38--Lady Damer’s Secret By Bertha M. Clay
39--A Fiery Ordeal By Bertha M. Clay
40--A Woman’s Vengeance By Bertha M. Clay
41--Thorns and Orange Blossoms By Bertha M. Clay
42--Two Kisses and the Fatal Lilies By Bertha M. Clay
43--A Coquette’s Conquest By Bertha M. Clay
44--A Wife’s Judgment By Bertha M. Clay
45--His Perfect Trust By Bertha M. Clay
46--Her Martyrdom By Bertha M. Clay
47--Golden Gates By Bertha M. Clay
48--Evelyn’s Folly By Bertha M. Clay
49--Lord Lisle’s Daughter By Bertha M. Clay
50--A Woman’s Trust By Bertha M. Clay
51--A Wife’s Peril By Bertha M. Clay
52--Love in a Mask By Bertha M. Clay
53--For a Dream’s Sake By Bertha M. Clay
54--A Dream of Love By Bertha M. Clay
55--The Hand Without a Wedding Ring By Bertha M. Clay
56--The Paths of Love By Bertha M. Clay
57--Irene’s Bow By Bertha M. Clay
58--The Rival Heiresses By Bertha M. Clay
59--The Squire’s Darling By Bertha M. Clay
60--Her First Love By Bertha M. Clay
61--Another Man’s Wife By Bertha M. Clay
62--A Bitter Atonement By Bertha M. Clay
63--Wedded Hands By Bertha M. Clay
64--The Earl’s Error and Letty Leigh By Bertha M. Clay
65--Violet Lisle By Bertha M. Clay
66--A Heart’s Idol By Bertha M. Clay
67--The Actor’s Ward By Bertha M. Clay
68--The Belle of Lynn By Bertha M. Clay
69--A Bitter Bondage By Bertha M. Clay
70--Dora Thorne By Bertha M. Clay
71--Claribel’s Love Story By Bertha M. Clay
72--A Woman’s War By Bertha M. Clay
73--A Fatal Dower By Bertha M. Clay
74--A Dark Marriage Morn By Bertha M. Clay
75--Hilda’s Love By Bertha M. Clay
76--One Against Many By Bertha M. Clay
77--For Another’s Sin By Bertha M. Clay
78--At War With Herself By Bertha M. Clay
79--A Haunted Life By Bertha M. Clay
80--Lady Castlemaine’s Divorce By Bertha M. Clay
81--Wife in Name Only By Bertha M. Clay
82--The Sin of a Lifetime By Bertha M. Clay
83--The World Between Them By Bertha M. Clay
84--Prince Charlie’s Daughter By Bertha M. Clay
85--A Struggle for a Ring By Bertha M. Clay
86--The Shadow of a Sin By Bertha M. Clay
87--A Rose in Thorns By Bertha M. Clay
88--The Romance of the Black Veil By Bertha M. Clay
89--Lord Lynne’s Choice By Bertha M. Clay
90--The Tragedy of Lime Hall By Bertha M. Clay
91--James Gordon’s Wife By Bertha M. Clay
92--Set in Diamonds By Bertha M. Clay
93--For Life and Love By Bertha M. Clay
94--How Will It End? By Bertha M. Clay
95--Love’s Warfare By Bertha M. Clay
96--The Burden of a Secret By Bertha M. Clay
97--Griselda By Bertha M. Clay
98--A Woman’s Witchery By Bertha M. Clay
99--An Ideal Love By Bertha M. Clay
100--Lady Marchmont’s Widowhood By Bertha M. Clay
101--The Romance of a Young Girl By Bertha M. Clay
102--The Price of a Bride By Bertha M. Clay
103--If Love Be Love By Bertha M. Clay
104--Queen of the County By Bertha M. Clay
105--Lady Ethel’s Whim By Bertha M. Clay
106--Weaker Than a Woman By Bertha M. Clay
107--A Woman’s Temptation By Bertha M. Clay
108--On Her Wedding Morn By Bertha M. Clay
109--A Struggle for the Right By Bertha M. Clay
110--Margery Daw By Bertha M. Clay
111--The Sins of the Father By Bertha M. Clay
112--A Dead Heart By Bertha M. Clay
113--Under a Shadow By Bertha M. Clay
114--Dream Faces By Bertha M. Clay
115--Lord Elesmere’s Wife By Bertha M. Clay
116--Blossom and Fruit By Bertha M. Clay
117--Lady Muriel’s Secret By Bertha M. Clay
118--A Loving Maid By Bertha M. Clay
119--Hilary’s Folly By Bertha M. Clay
120--Beauty’s Marriage By Bertha M. Clay
121--Lady Gwendoline’s Dream By Bertha M. Clay
122--A Story of an Error By Bertha M. Clay
123--The Hidden Sin By Bertha M. Clay
124--Society’s Verdict By Bertha M. Clay
125--The Bride From the Sea and Other Stories By Bertha M. Clay
126--A Heart of Gold By Bertha M. Clay
127--Addie’s Husband and Other Stories By Bertha M. Clay
128--Lady Latimer’s Escape By Bertha M. Clay
129--A Woman’s Error By Bertha M. Clay
130--A Loveless Engagement By Bertha M. Clay
131--A Queen Triumphant By Bertha M. Clay
132--The Girl of His Heart By Bertha M. Clay
133--The Chains of Jealousy By Bertha M. Clay
134--A Heart’s Worship By Bertha M. Clay
135--The Price of Love By Bertha M. Clay
136--A Misguided Love By Bertha M. Clay
137--A Wife’s Devotion By Bertha M. Clay
138--When Love and Hate Conflict By Bertha M. Clay
139--A Captive Heart By Bertha M. Clay
140--A Pilgrim of Love By Bertha M. Clay
141--A Purchased Love By Bertha M. Clay
142--Lost for Love By Bertha M. Clay
143--The Queen of His Soul By Bertha M. Clay
144--Gladys’ Wedding Day By Bertha M. Clay
145--An Untold Passion By Bertha M. Clay
146--His Great Temptation By Bertha M. Clay
147--A Fateful Passion By Bertha M. Clay
148--The Sunshine of His Life By Bertha M. Clay
149--On With the New Love By Bertha M. Clay
150--An Evil Heart By Bertha M. Clay
151--Love’s Redemption By Bertha M. Clay
152--The Love of Lady Aurelia By Bertha M. Clay
153--The Lost Lady of Haddon By Bertha M. Clay
154--Every Inch a Queen By Bertha M. Clay
155--A Maid’s Misery By Bertha M. Clay
156--A Stolen Heart By Bertha M. Clay
157--His Wedded Wife By Bertha M. Clay
158--Lady Ona’s Sin By Bertha M. Clay
159--A Tragedy of Love and Hate By Bertha M. Clay
160--The White Witch By Bertha M. Clay
161--Between Love and Ambition By Bertha M. Clay
162--True Love’s Reward By Bertha M. Clay
163--The Gambler’s Wife By Bertha M. Clay
164--An Ocean of Love By Bertha M. Clay
165--A Poisoned Heart By Bertha M. Clay
166--For Love of Her By Bertha M. Clay
167--Paying the Penalty By Bertha M. Clay
A WOMAN’S TRUST;
OR,
Lady Elaine’s Martyrdom
_A NOVEL_
BY
BERTHA M. CLAY
Whose complete works will be published in this, the NEW
BERTHA CLAY LIBRARY.
[Illustration: S AND S
NOVELS]
STREET & SMITH CORPORATION
PUBLISHERS
79-89 SEVENTH AVENUE
NEW YORK CITY
Copyright, 1900 and 1902
By STREET & SMITH
A Woman’s Trust
(Printed in the United States of America)
All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign
languages, including the Scandinavian.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I. “AT LAST I HAVE MET MY FATE.”
CHAPTER II. A RIFT IN THE LUTE.
CHAPTER III. “MY GOD! ALL IS AT AN END.”
CHAPTER IV. COLONEL GREYSON’S MISSION.
CHAPTER V. “IF HE HAD ONLY COME HIMSELF.”
CHAPTER VI. THE LETTERS TIED WITH BLUE RIBBON.
CHAPTER VII. SIR HAROLD’S DEPARTURE.
CHAPTER VIII. “THE PAST IS ALL A BLANK.”
CHAPTER IX. “I SHALL WAIT, IF NEED BE, FOREVER.”
CHAPTER X. AT LADY GAYNOR’S BALL.
CHAPTER XI. MY PLACE IS HERE TO PROTECT THERESA.
CHAPTER XII. COLONEL GREYSON’S VISIT.
CHAPTER XIII. A STRANGE WILL.
CHAPTER XIV. AN EVIL GENIUS.
CHAPTER XV. LADY GAYNOR SHOWS HER HAND.
CHAPTER XVI. THE VISCOUNT’S SCHEME.
CHAPTER XVII. THERESA’S LOVE.
CHAPTER XVIII. SIR HAROLD’S WALK TO FARNWELL.
CHAPTER XIX. A FUNERAL AND A WEDDING.
CHAPTER XX. THE AWAKENING BEGINS.
CHAPTER XXI. THE VILLA IN HYDE PARK.
CHAPTER XXII. “TO-MORROW SHALL DECIDE.”
CHAPTER XXIII. THERESA’S WARNING.
CHAPTER XXIV. POOR THERESA.
CHAPTER XXV. A STARTLING DISCOVERY.
CHAPTER XXVI. THE DUKE’S ULTIMATUM.
CHAPTER XXVII. “WE SHALL NEVER MEET AGAIN.”
CHAPTER XXVIII. MARGARET’S ATONEMENT.
CHAPTER XXIX. PEACE AT LAST.
A WOMAN’S TRUST.
CHAPTER I.
“AT LAST I HAVE MET MY FATE.”
“How ridiculously provoking you can be, Harold!”
“I do not think my remarks are ridiculous, Elaine.”
“Your society is decidedly unpleasant when your conversation takes this
morbid strain,” replied Lady Elaine Seabright.
“I only asked you a natural question, darling,” said Sir Harold
Annesley, an anxious light in his blue eyes. “I am your accepted
lover--your future husband.”
“And in consequence my life is to be made a burden to me!” the
beautiful Elaine exclaimed, pettishly.
“Heaven forbid. Every moment of my waking thoughts shall be devoted to
the happiness of my peerless darling!” He pressed her to him in sudden
rapture.
“Harold, you foolish fellow, I wish that you were less demonstrative.
The people on the lawn will see us. I am sure that papa is looking this
way!”
“No, no! We are safe in this bower of beauty,” laughed Sir Harold.
He pressed another kiss upon her ripe lips, and thanked Heaven in his
heart for the great gift of this girl’s love.
Two short months before, neither dreamt of the other’s existence. Sir
Harold had just returned from an exploring expedition, and his name was
mentioned in the papers. He was eulogized for his bravery in forcing
a passage to some outlandish place in Africa, and at the risk of his
life rescuing a well-meaning but foolish missionary. He had been away
from home for five long years, and it was hoped that he would now stay
in England for good. He represented a grand old line; he was young,
handsome, and wealthy. With all these advantages, it is easy for a man
to become popular anywhere.
Lady Elaine Seabright had read this item of news with languid interest,
and immediately forgot it. A week later it again recurred to her, for
at the county ball she found herself being introduced to Sir Harold
Annesley.
She thought that she had never before seen so perfect a man, and he
remarked to his companion, Colonel Greyson, an hour later, that she was
the most beautiful woman in the whole world.
“Did I not tell you so, Mr. Skeptic?” laughed the colonel. “Lady Elaine
has carried all hearts by storm from the hour she was launched upon
society. She has had a score of lovers.”
Sir Harold sighed and echoed: “A score of lovers!”
“Yes; all hearts that beat in manly bosoms pay homage to the most
beautiful girl in England. But she has come scathless out of the
ordeal, and is free as air after two seasons.”
“I am glad of it,” replied Sir Harold; and Colonel Greyson smiled,
meaningly.
“Why should you be glad?” he said. “Why should you be glad? A confirmed
woman-hater! Beware, Sir Harold!”
The young baronet blushed.
“I am not ashamed to tell you, old friend, that with me it is love at
first sight. I have never loved before; I have never breathed words of
love into any woman’s ear. At last I have met my fate.”
“Go in and win, my boy. You are worthy of any woman,” the colonel
said; then he looked away, adding, “this pleasure is only tempered with
one regret.”
“One regret, colonel? I do not understand you. Be frank with me, as you
have ever been, my more than father.”
“Boy, are you not aware that your cousin Margaret loves you? I believe
that she has worshiped you from her very childhood.”
A shade of annoyance passed over Sir Harold’s face, but it immediately
brightened again.
“Of course, Margaret loves me in a cousinly--a sisterly way, but it
is nothing more, colonel, I assure you. Besides, I could not marry
Margaret Nugent if she were the only choice left to me. I believe that
it is wrong for cousins to marry.”
Just then he caught sight of Lady Elaine, and he had eyes for none else.
“Come,” said Greyson, “we must not hide in this recess like a pair of
conspirators. You are the lion of the evening, Sir Harold, and people
will be inquiring for you.”
They left the conservatory, and a deep sigh, that was almost a sob,
fluttered in the scented air. From behind a mass of sub-tropical plants
emerged the figure of a woman--young and exquisitely beautiful--a woman
with a face that would have sent Titian into ecstasies of delight. She
was of medium height, and her form was outlined in graceful, rounded
curves. There was not an angle or a movement to offend the eye of an
artist. Her face was oval, her lips red and full, her eyes dark and
luminous, her hair as black as the raven’s wing. Among the coils of
these matchless tresses was a red rosebud; about her snowy throat a
necklet of rubies, and her dress was of amber silk.
“He could not marry Margaret Nugent if she were the only choice left
to him!” she murmured, her white hands tightly clinching themselves.
“And is it for this I have loved and waited all these weary years? Oh,
Harold! how can you be so cruel? You have been my ideal--my king! More
precious than my hopes of heaven! And now--oh, God, I cannot stand it!”
She sank into the lounge that the gentlemen had just left, and covered
her eyes with her hands, while her lovely bosom rose and fell with the
bitter pangs of her emotion.
The merry strains of the waltz were maddening, and the laughter of the
happy people in the brilliantly illuminated ballroom made only more
apparent her own misery.
“He has met his fate in Lady Elaine Seabright, and I had thought him
all my own!” she continued, inaudibly. “I have never liked my proud and
haughty friend, and I now hate her with an undying hatred! She shall
not take from me the man I love! If she does, I swear to fill her life
with bitterness equal to that which I suffer now!”
Her eyes had grown black, and flashed gleams of fire; her tiny hands
were clinched, and her beautiful form swelled with fury. In that brief
space Margaret Nugent had changed from a warm-tempered, imperious girl
to a determined and revengeful woman.
Just then some one touched the keys of the piano, and sang the words of
a song that haunted her forever:
“Alone in crowds to wander on
And feel that all the charm is gone,
While voices dear, and eyes beloved,
Shed round us once, where’er we roved--
This, this, the doom must be
Of all who’ve loved, and loved to see
The few bright things they thought would stay
For ever near them, die away.
Though fairer forms around us throng,
Their smiles to others all belong,
And want that charm that dwells alone
Round those the fond heart calls its own.
Where, where the sunny brow?
The long-known voice--where are they now?
Thus ask I still, nor ask in vain--
The silence answers all too plain!
Oh! what is fancy’s magic worth,
If all her art cannot call forth
One bliss like those we felt of old
From lips now mute and eyes now cold?
No, no--her spell is vain--
As soon could she bring back again
Those eyes themselves from out the grave,
As ask again one bliss they gave.”
Margaret Nugent clutched at her heart, gasping: “I will not lose him--I
will never give up my hero-king!”
Again the voice of the singer rose:
“Alone in crowds to wander on,
And feel that all the charm is gone.”
“I shall go mad!” murmured Margaret. “Can I get out into the moonlight
unobserved? The cool air will soothe my throbbing brain.”
She looked back into the ballroom, and saw Sir Harold Annesley talking
to Lady Elaine Seabright. Lady Elaine’s flower-like face was turned up
to him laughingly, and Margaret Nugent shivered.
She turned, and gliding from the conservatory, almost reeled into the
vine-wreathed piazza beyond, clutching at the wall for support.
Even here she could not be alone, for a recumbent figure started up
from a low seat, saying, in anxious tones:
“Dear Miss Margaret, are you faint? I have just come out myself to
escape the heat. Can I get you a glass of water?”
“No, thank you, viscount,” replied Margaret. “I am already better--much
better. The heat is stifling.”
“Would you prefer to be alone, Miss Margaret?” went on Viscount
Rivington, “or will you stroll with me in the moonlight for a few
minutes? It is lovely out here, and we shall not be missed now.”
He spoke with a tinge of bitterness in his tones. Margaret looked at
him sharply.
“I understand----” she said, gently, yet with a thrill of satisfaction
in her heart, “I understand. Lady Elaine is as capricious as usual;
Lady Elaine seeks new worlds to conquer!”
He laughed bitterly.
“Sir Harold is the social lion to-night. Every one bows to him,” he
said, “but I will not have him come between me and the woman I worship,
Miss Nugent!”
He turned suddenly upon her.
“You love your cousin--you love Sir Harold. Nay, how could I help but
read your secret when my own heart is torn with jealous fears? I could
curse the fate that brought him here to-night. Lady Elaine had promised
to consider my suit; her father, the earl, was pleased to welcome me as
a favored lover; but now I am extinguished!”
He glanced vengefully toward the gleaming windows just as two people
in the room beyond paused to drink in the beauty of the moonlight. The
brilliant lights behind them made every movement distinct.
“See!” Viscount Rivington whispered. “There they are, Miss Nugent--the
woman I love and the man whom you covet. Are we to stand idly by while
all that life holds dear drifts away?”
“No!” she said, and their eyes met. They understood each other.