AUNT CHARLOTTE ATTENDS A CELEBRATION.
"You have not yet told me why you returned so suddenly to England,"
said 'Linda.
She was seated on a low stool beside Miss Charlotte Carlaw's chair;
her head was resting against the old woman's knee. Miss Carlaw, leaning
in her old attitude on her stick, had been silent for some time.
The two women had returned only the day before, quite suddenly and
unexpectedly, from the Continent.
"Well, there were several reasons, my child," she said. "I've been
growing older within these past few months--older not only in years but
in my outlook on life, I think. You'll laugh, perhaps, when I say it,
but I've gone through many, many years of my life in a sort of wild
hurry, striving to get out of it--out of every hour of it--the most
that could be squeezed. If I had my time to come again, I think--no,
I am quite sure--that I should linger a little by the roadside, as
it were; perhaps in that way I should see more of it, and should
understand more clearly the meaning of it all. The nearer we come to
the finish of it, child, the more clearly do we understand that it is
not for us to judge; not for us, in our petty fashion, to say what is
right or what is wrong. Only at the end, when we go to Him who sent
us here, carrying in our hands the poor little fruits of what we have
done, can we know how sadly we have blundered, how much there is that
we might have done better. Look at me, 'Linda; I started without eyes,
but even that should not have blinded me to all the better things I
passed by. And so, before it is too late, I want to do one little thing
that I have left undone; I want in all humility to make some reparation
to you."
"Reparation? To me?"
"Yes, to you. There was a time--a long while ago--when I thought hardly
of you, because I thought you had deceived some one I loved. Well,
perhaps you judged him better than I did; perhaps, after all, I was the
poor fool who was deceived, and you--out of that love which teaches a
woman more than anything else can do--found the better man, after all.
You remember I came to you, pitying your loneliness, when he died,
and I have been more than recompensed by your love and devotion to me
since."
"You have been very, very good to me," said 'Linda in a low voice. "But
for you I might have been left destitute."
"There, there, we won't talk of that," said the old woman. "You know,
since we have been abroad our good old friend the captain has written
to us more than once. He mentioned in one of his letters to me about
the statue which had been erected to your husband. I don't want to
trouble you with sad memories, but it has occurred to me that you might
like to go again to the place where he was born and to the place where
they love and remember him so well. Help me to be unselfish, child, for
I fear that I have selfishly tried to thrust out of your memory any
thought of him. I know you loved him, and he was, perhaps, a better man
than I judged him to be. Will you forgive me if I have misjudged him?"
"Indeed, I have nothing to forgive," replied 'Linda.
"Ah, you say that out of your good heart; but I reproach myself very
much that I have not been gentler with you--that I have not considered
your grief a little more. Now, listen to me. The captain told me in
his letter--you remember you read it to me--he told me that on the
anniversary of Brian Carlaw's birth there was going to be a great
celebration; that the people of the little town were going to put
wreaths and flowers at the foot of the statue; that many celebrated
people who had known and loved and admired him in life would be there
to show their respect for his memory. And that has brought me back to
England."
'Linda sat quite still, listening. Before her mental vision passed a
picture of a man lying dying at the foot of that statue; a man who had
willingly and cheerfully given all he possessed in life for her; a man
who had thought that God was good because the woman who had cast him
aside kissed his lips at the last.
"And so, my dear child," went on the unconscious old woman, "I have
made up my mind that we will go down there at the time of this
celebration, and you shall take your place as you should by the
memorial of the man you loved. That is only fair and just and right;
that has brought me back to England. Come, tell me that it will make
you happy to go back to the old place again, to feel some pride--as you
must feel--in the man whom all others are honouring."
"I--I think--I fear the journey would be too much for you," said
'Linda, striving to steady her voice. "Indeed, you must not do this for
my sake."
"Nonsense!" exclaimed Miss Carlaw. "I've set my heart upon it, and I
shall be bitterly disappointed if you don't carry out my wishes. You
must be proud of him, and it will take the keenest edge off your sorrow
and make you think kindly of him if you go. I am going to have my own
way in this, I can assure you. We'll go down together to the grave of
the man you love, for I suppose they buried him there?"
'Linda did not answer. A sudden new thought had come into her head--a
thought that brought a quick flush to her cheek and filled her eyes
with tears. "It shall be as you wish," she said after a pause.
The celebration of which the captain had written--the anniversary of
Brian Carlaw's birth--was three days later; the two women went down
late on the day before, and secured rooms at the inn at which Miss
Charlotte Carlaw had previously stopped. Early the following morning,
after they had breakfasted, they set out on foot for the place; for
Miss Carlaw had said: "We'll have no ostentation about the matter; and
we'll get there early, before the other people arrive."
Their walk was a short one; the old blind woman, leaning on 'Linda's
arm, was led through a gate and then found her feet walking softly on
grass; on the sweet summer air the scent of roses was borne pleasantly.
"A sweet and pleasant place," she murmured as they walked on.
They went some little distance farther and then 'Linda stopped. "This
is the place," she whispered. "The man I loved sleeps here." The arm on
which Miss Carlaw leaned seemed to tremble, and she thought that the
girl was weeping.
"How very quiet it all is!" said Miss Carlaw in a hushed voice. "I
can only hear the twitter of the birds and the rustle of the wind in
the leaves. The people, where are the people? Has no one arrived yet?
Please remember that I am blind, dear; you must be eyes for me?"
"No; the people are not here; we are quite alone," said 'Linda.
"But the statue; describe the statue to me."
"It is a statue that only I can see," said 'Linda slowly; "ever since
he died I have seen it towering to the very heavens, putting me to
shame. It is the statue of a great and good man--a man so splendid
in one purpose and one hope and one faith that all other men sink
into nothingness beside him. And in the eyes--oh, can I ever forget
them?--in the eyes there is a light of such love, such goodness, such
forgiveness, that they burn forever into my soul, until I try to close
my own to shut the light of them out."
Miss Carlaw, wondering and trembling, made a sudden step forward and
stumbled over something; she recoiled and caught 'Linda's arm. "What
place is this?" she whispered. "That was a grave I stumbled upon. Where
have you brought me?"
"To the grave of the man I loved," said 'Linda, weeping. "There is no
statue here--not even a headstone; no crowds come here to worship. The
only wreath upon the grave is that of a few humble flowers twined by
the hands of an old soldier who loved him. This is the grave of the man
I loved--the grave of Comethup Willis."
Miss Charlotte Carlaw began to tremble and her hands went up
falteringly to her lips. "What is this? What do you mean? Why have you
brought me here?"
"To right a wrong--to tell an old, sad story that should have been told
long since. Sit down here; it is a quiet place, wherein he wandered
as a little child; he sleeps soundly now beside those who loved him.
You thought that he was wild and reckless, that he spent your money
shamefully, that he traded upon the fact that he might one day expect
it all. Do you know on whom that money was spent?"
"No, no; tell me," faltered the old woman.
"For years and years he was robbed by the man I thought the best on
earth, and by that man's father. When he was but a boy, travelling
with you on the Continent, those two--father and son--were following
him from place to place, preying upon him--living upon him. They had
nothing of their own. The very money that enabled Brian to fly with me
and to marry me--oh, the bitter, bitter shame of it!--was wrung from
the man who loved me. I had nothing, and Brian earned scarcely anything
at all; I lived in a fool's paradise. The very dress I wore, the food
I ate, everything was bought with his money. You have told me how he
borrowed a large sum of money, and how you discarded him for it. That
money was borrowed when extravagance had taken all that Comethup had
and when he feared I might come to want. I have tried to tell you this
again and again, although I only knew it from your lips a few weeks
ago; they kept me in ignorance until the very last of what the true
facts of the case were."
There was a long pause. Miss Charlotte Carlaw was rocking herself to
and fro and moaning fitfully. "Is this--is this true?" she asked at
last in a whisper.
"Yes, it's all true," said 'Linda.
"And is he dead? Can I never--never take him in my arms again; never
whisper to him how sorry I am? Tell me, how did he die?"
"He died quite--quite suddenly. He was killed. He was mistaken for--for
some one else by a man who was mad, a man who mercifully forgot all
about it afterward and whose crime was never discovered. But you will
like to know that he died in my arms, that I was able to tell him at
the last what had been in my heart so long--that I loved him. I was
able to kiss him--and he died in my arms, smiling, and saying that
God was very good. I have written--a long time ago--and told his old
friend the captain all this, so that the captain might think well of
him. And that is all."
The old woman was kneeling beside the grave. "Oh, my boy, my boy,"
she whispered; "dear Prince Charming, if you can hear me now, forgive
an old woman who loved you with all her heart and soul, and who did
not understand until it was too late.--And, oh, most merciful God,"
she added, raising her face toward the sky, "I thank thee that Prince
Charming lives again--that thou hast given him back to me!"
All was quiet and restful about them; the birds twittered softly among
the branches, and the scent of the roses floated to them from the
garden of the little cottage against the wall of the church--the roses
among which poor Comethup had wandered and dreamed his dreams as a
little child.
THE END.
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY'S PUBLICATIONS.
APPLETONS' TOWN AND COUNTRY LIBRARY.
PUBLISHED SEMIMONTHLY.
1. _The Steel Hammer._ By L. ULBACH.
2. _Eve._ By S. BARING-GOULD.
3. _For Fifteen Years._ By L. ULBACH.
4. _A Counsel of Perfection._ By L. MALET.
5. _The Deemster._ By H. CAINE.
5-1/2. _The Bondman._ By H. CAINE.
6. _A Virginia Inheritance._ By E. PENDLETON.
7. _Ninette._ By the author of Véra.
8. "_The Right Honourable._" By J. MCCARTHY and Mrs. CAMPBELL-PRAED.
9. _The Silence of Dean Maitland._ By M. GRAY.
10. _Mrs. Lorimer._ By L. MALET.
11. _The Elect Lady._ By G. MACDONALD.
12. _The Mystery of the "Ocean Star."_ By W. C. RUSSELL.
13. _Aristocracy._
14. _A Recoiling Vengeance._ By F. BARRETT.
15. _The Secret of Fontaine-la-Croix._ By M. FIELD.
16. _The Master of Rathkelly._ By H. SMART.
17. _Donovan._ By E. LYALL.
18. _This Mortal Coil._ By G. ALLEN.
19. _A Fair Emigrant._ By R. MULHOLLAND.
20. _The Apostate._ By E. DAUDET.
21. _Raleigh Westgate._ By H. K. JOHNSON.
22. _Arius the Libyan._
23. _Constance_, and _Calbot's Rival_. By J. HAWTHORNE.
24. _We Two._ By E. LYALL.
25. _A Dreamer of Dreams._ By the author of Thoth.
26. _The Ladies' Gallery._ By J. MCCARTHY and Mrs. CAMPBELL-PRAED.
27. _The Reproach of Annealey._ By M. GRAY.
28. _Near to Happiness._
29. _In the Wire Grass._ By L. PENDLETON.
30. _Lace._ By P. LINDAU.
30-1/2. _The Black Poodle._ By F. ANSTEY
31. _American Coin._ By the author of Aristocracy.
32. _Won by Waiting._ By E. LYALL.
33. _The Story of Helen Davenant._ By V. FANE.
34. _The Light of Her Countenance._ By H. H. BOYESEN.
35. _Mistress Beatrice Cope._ By M. E. LE CLERC.
36. _The Knight-Errant._ By E. LYALL.
37. _In the Golden Days._ By E. LYALL.
38. _Giraldi._ By R. G. DERING.
39. _A Hardy Norseman._ By E. LYALL.
40. _The Romance of Jenny Harlowe_, and _Sketches of Maritime Life_. By
W. C. RUSSELL.
41. _Passion's Slave._ By R. ASHE-KING.
42. _The Awakening of Mary Fenwick._ By B. WHITBY.
43. _Countess Loreley._ By R. MENGER.
44. _Blind Love._ By W. COLLINS.
45. _The Dean's Daughter._ By S. F. F. VEITCH.
46. _Countess Irene._ By J. FOGERTY.
47. _Robert Browning's Principal Shorter Poems._
48. _Frozen Hearts._ By G. W. APPLETON.
49. _Djambek the Georgian._ By A. G. VON SUTTNER.
50. _The Craze of Christian Engelhart._ By H. F. DARNELL.
51. _Lal._ By W. A. HAMMOND, M. D.
52. _Aline._ By H. GRÉVILLE.
53. _Joost Avelingh._ By M. MAARTENS.
54. _Katy of Catoctin._ By G. A. TOWNSEND.
55. _Throckmorton._ By M. E. SHAWELL.
56. _Expatriation._ By the author of Aristocracy.
57. _Geoffrey Hampstead._ By T. S. JARVIS.
58. _Dmitri._ By F. W. BAIN, M.A.
59. _Part of the Property._ By B. WHITBY.
60. _Bismarck in Private Life._ By a Fellow-Student.
61. _In Low Relief._ By M. ROBERTS.
62. _The Canadians of Old._ By P. GASPÉ.
63. _A Squire of Low Degree._ By L. A. LONG.
64. _A Fluttered Dovecote._ By G. M. FENN.
65. _The Nugents of Carriconna._ By T. HOPKINS.
66. _A Sensitive Plant._ By E. and D. GERARD.
67. _Doña Luz._ By J. VALERA. Translated by Mrs. M. J. SERRANO.
68. _Pepita Ximenez._ By J. VALERA. Translated by Mrs. M. J. SERRANO.
69. _The Primes and their Neighbors._ By R. M. JOHNSTON.
70. _The Iron Game._ By H. F. KEENAN.
71. _Stories of Old New Spain._ By T. A. JANVIER.
72. _The Maid of Honor._ By Hon. L. WINGFIELD.
73. _In the Heart of the Storm._ By M. GRAY.
74. _Consequences._ By E. CASTLE.
75. _The Three Miss Kings._ By A. CAMBRIDGE.
76. _A Matter of Skill._ By B. WHITBY.
77. _Maid Marian, and Other Stories._ By M. E. SEAWELL.
78. _One Woman's Way._ By E. PENDLETON.
79. _A Merciful Divorce._ By F. W. MAUDE.
80. _Stephen Ellicott's Daughter._ By Mrs. J. H. NEEDELL.
81. _One Reason Why._ By B. WHITBY.
82. _The Tragedy of Ida Noble._ By W. C. RUSSELL.
83. _The Johnstown Stage, and Other Stories._ By R. H. FLETCHER.
84. _A Widower Indeed._ By R. BROUGHTON and E. BISLAND.
85. _The Flight of a Shadow._ By G. MACDONALD.
86. _Love or Money._ By K. LEE.
87. _Not All in Vain._ By A. CAMBRIDGE.
88. _It Happened Yesterday._ By F. MARSHALL.
89. _My Guardian._ By A. CAMBRIDGE.
90. _The Story of Philip Methuen._ By Mrs. J. H. NEEDELL.
91. _Amethyst._ By C. R. COLERIDGE.
92. _Don Braulio._ By J. VALERA. Translated by C. BELL.
93. _The Chronicles of Mr. Bill Williams._ By R. M. JOHNSTON.
94. _A Queen of Curds and Cream._ By D. GERARD.
95. _"La Bella" and Others._ By E. CASTLE.
96. "_December Roses._" By Mrs. CAMPBELL-PRAED.
97. _Jean de Kerdren._ By J. SCHULTE.
98. _Etelka's Vow._ By D. GERARD.
99. _Cross Currents._ By M. A. DICKENS.
100. _His Life's Magnet._ By T. ELMOLIN.
101. _Passing the Love of Women._ By Mrs. J. H. NEEDELL.
102. _In Old St. Stephen's._ By J. DRAKE.
103. _The Berkeleys and their Neighbors._ By M. E. SEAWELL.
104. _Mona Maclean, Medical Student._ By G. TRAVERS.
105. _Mrs. Bligh._ By R. BROUGHTON.
106. _A Stumble on the Threshold._ By J. PAYN.
107. _Hanging Moss._ By P. LINDAU.
108. _A Comedy of Elopement._ By C. REID.
109. _In the Suntime of her Youth._ By B. WHITBY.
110. _Stories in Black and White._ By T. HARDY and Others.
110-1/2. _An Englishman in Paris._
111. _Commander Mendoza._ By J. VALERA.
112. _Dr. Paull's Theory._ By Mrs. A. M. DIEHL.
113. _Children of Destiny._ By M. E. SEAWELL.
114. _A Little Minx._ By A. CAMBRIDGE.
115. _Capt'n Davy's Honeymoon._ By H. CAINE.
116. _The Voice of a Flower._ By E. GERARD.
117. _Singularly Deluded._ By S. GRAND.
118. _Suspected._ By L. STRATENUS.
119. _Lucia, Hugh, and Another._ By Mrs. J. H. NEEDELL.
120. _The Tutor's Secret._ By V. CHERBULIEZ.
121. _From the Five Rivers._ By Mrs. F. A. STEEL.
122. _An Innocent Impostor, and Other Stories._ By M. GRAY.
123. _Ideala._ By S. GRAND.
124. _A Comedy of Masks._ By E. DOWSON and A. MOORE.
125. _Relics._ By F. MACNAB.
126. _Dodo: A Detail of the Day._ By E. F. BENSON.
127. _A Woman of Forty._ By E. STUART.
128. _Diana Tempest._ By M. CHOLMONDELEY.
129. _The Recipe for Diamonds._ By C. J. C. HYNE.
130. _Christina Chard._ By Mrs. CAMPBELL-PRAED.
131. _A Gray Eye or So._ By F. F. MOORE.
132. _Earlscourt._ By A. ALLARDYCE.
133. _A Marriage Ceremony._ By A. CAMBRIDGE.
134. _A Ward in Chancery._ By Mrs. ALEXANDER.
135. _Lot 13._ By D. GERARD.
136. _Our Manifold Nature._ By S. GRAND.
137. _A Costly Freak._ By M. GRAY.
138. _A Beginner._ By R. BROUGHTON.
139. _A Yellow Aster._ By Mrs. M. CAFFYN ("IOTA").
140. _The Rubicon._ By E. F. BENSON.
141. _The Trespasser._ By G. PARKER.
142. _The Rich Miss Riddell._ By D. GERARD.
143. _Mary Fenwick's Daughter._ By B. WHITBY.
144. _Red Diamonds._ By J. MCCARTHY.
145. _A Daughter of Music._ By G. COLMORE.
146. _Outlaw and Lawmaker._ By Mrs. CAMPBELL-PRAED.
147. _Dr. Janet of Harley Street._ By A. KENEALY.
148. _George Mandeville's Husband._ By C. E. RAIMOND.
149. _Vashti and Esther._
150. _Timar's Two Worlds._ By M. JOKAI.
151. _A Victim of Good Luck._ By W. E. NORRIS.
152. _The Trail of the Sword._ By G. PARKER.
153. _A Mild Barbarian._ By E. FAWCETT.
154. _The God in the Car._ By A. HOPE.
155. _Children of Circumstance_. By Mrs. M. CAFFYN.
156. _At the Gate of Samaria._ By W. J. LOCKE.
157. _The Justification of Andrew Lebrun._ By F. BARRETT.
158. _Dust and Laurels._ By M. L. PENDERED.
159. _The Good Ship Mohock._ By W. C. RUSSELL.
160. _Noemi._ By S. BARING-GOULD.
161. _The Honour of Savelli._ By S. L. YEATS.
162. _Kitty's Engagement._ By F. WARDEN.
163. _The Mermaid._ By L. DOUGALL.
164. _An Arranged Marriage._ By D. GERARD.
165. _Eve's Ransom._ By G. GISSING.
166. _The Marriage of Esther._ By G. BOOTHBY.
167. _Fidelis._ By A. CAMBRIDGE.
168. _Into the Highways and Hedges._ By F. F. MONTRÉSOR.
169. _The Vengeance of James Vansittart._ By Mrs. J. H. NEEDELL.
170. _A Study in Prejudices._ By G. PASTON.
171. _The Mistress of Quest._ By A. SERGEANT.
172. _In the Year of Jubilee._ By G. GISSING.
173. _In Old New England._ By H. BUTTERWORTH.
174. _Mrs. Musgrave--and Her Husband._ By R. MARSH.
175. _Not Counting the Cost._ By TASMA.
176. _Out of Due Season._ By A. SERGEANT.
177. _Scylla or Charybdis?_ By R. BROUGHTON.
178. _In Defiance of the King._ By C. C. HOTCHKISS.
179. _A Bid for Fortune._ By G. BOOTHBY.
180. _The King of Andaman._ By J. M. COBBAN.
181. _Mrs. Tregaskiss._ By Mrs. CAMPBELL-PRAED.
182. _The Desire of the Moth._ By C. VANE.
183. _A Self-Denying Ordinance._ By M. HAMILTON.
184. _Successors to the Title._ By Mrs. L. B. WALFORD.
185. _The Lost Stradivarius._ By J. M. FALKNER.
186. _The Wrong Man._ By D. GERARD.
187. _In the Day of Adversity._ By J. BLOUNDELLE-BURTON.
188. _Mistress Dorothy Marvin._ By J. C. SNAITH.
189. _A Flash of Summer._ By Mrs. W. K. CLIFFORD.
190. _The Dancer in Yellow._ By W. R. NORRIS.
191. _The Chronicles of Martin Hewitt._ By A. MORRISON.
192. _A Winning Hazard._ By Mrs. ALEXANDER.
193. _The Picture of Las Cruces._ By C. REID.
194. _The Madonna of a Day._ By L. DOUGALL.
195. _The Riddle Ring._ By J. MCCARTHY.
196. _A Humble Enterprise._ By A. CAMBRIDGE.
197. _Dr. Nikola._ By G. BOOTHBY.
198. _An Outcast of the Islands._ By J. CONRAD.
199. _The King's Revenge._ By C. BRAY.
200. _Denounced._ By J. BLOUNDELLE-BURTON.
201. _A Court Intrigue._ By B. THOMPSON.
202. _The Idol-Maker._ By A. SERGEANT.
203. _The Intriguers._ By J. D. BARRY.
204. _Master Ardick, Buccaneer._ By F. H. COSTELLO.
205. _With Fortune Made._ By V. CHERBULIEZ.
206. _Fellow Travellers._ By G. TRAVERS.
207. _McLeod of the Camerons._ By M. HAMILTON.
208. _The Career of Candida._ By G. PASTON.
209. _Arrested._ By E. STUART.
210. _Tatterley._ By T. GALLON.
211. _A Pinchbeck Goddess._ By Mrs. J. M. FLEMING (A. M. KIPLING).
212. _Perfection City._ By Mrs. ORPEN.
213. _A Spotless Reputation._ By D. GERARD.
214. _A Galahad of the Creeks._ By S. L. YEATS.
215. _The Beautiful White Devil._ By G. BOOTHBY.
216. _The Sun of Saratoga._ By J. A. ALTSHELER.
217. _Fierceheart, the Soldier._ By J. C. SNAITH.
218. _Marietta's Marriage._ By W. E. NORRIS.
219. _Dear Faustina._ By R. BROUGHTON.
220. _Nùlma._ By Mrs. CAMPBELL-PRAED.
221. _The Folly of Pen Harrington._ By J. STURGIS.
222. _A Colonial Free-Lance._ By C. C. HOTCHKISS.
223. _His Majesty's Greatest Subject._ By S. S. THORBURN.
224. _Mifanwy: A Welsh Singer._ By A. RAINE.
225. _A Soldier of Manhattan._ By J. A. ALTSHELER.
226. _Fortune's Footballs._ By G. B. BURGIN.
227. _The Clash of Arms._ By J. BLOUNDELLE-BURTON.
228. _God's Foundling._ By A. J. DAWSON.
229. _Miss Providence._ By D. GERARD.
230. _The Freedom of Henry Meredyth._ By M. HAMILTON.
231. _Sweethearts and Friends._ By M. GRAY.
232. _Sunset._ By B. WHITBY.
233. _A Fiery Ordeal._ By TASMA.
234. _A Prince of Mischance._ By T. GALLON.
235. _A Passionate Pilgrim._ By P. WHITE.
236. _This Little World._ By D. C. MURRAY.
237. _A Forgotten Sin._ By D. GERARD.
238. _The Incidental Bishop._ By G. ALLEN.
239. _The Lake of Wine._ By B. CAPES.
240. _A Trooper of the Empress._ By C. ROSS.
241. _Torn Sails._ By A. RAINE.
242. _Materfamilias._ By A. CAMBRIDGE.
243. _John of Strathbourne._ By R. D. CHETWODE.
244. _The Millionaires._ By F. F. MOORE.
245. _The Looms of Time._ By Mrs. H. FRASER.
246. _The Queen's Cup._ By G. A. HENTY.
247. _Dicky Monteith._ By T. GALLON.
248. _The Lust of Hate._ By G. BOOTHBY.
249. _The Gospel Writ in Steel._ By ARTHUR PATERSON.
250. _The Widower._ By W. E. NORRIS.
251. _The Scourge of God._ By J. BLOUNDELLE-BURTON.
252. _Concerning Isabel Carnaby._ By ELLEN THORNEYCROFT FOWLER.
253. _The Impediment._ By DOROTHEA GERARD.
254. _Belinda--and Some Others._ By ETHEL MAUDE.
255. _The Key of the Holy House._ By ALBERT LEE.
256. _A Writer of Books._ By GEORGE PASTON.
257. _The Knight of the Golden Chain._ By R. D. CHETWODE.
258. _Ricroft of Withens._ By HALLIWELL SUTCLIFFE.
259. _The Procession of Life._ By HORACE A. VACHELL.
260. _By Berwen Banks._ By ALLEN RAINE.
261. _Pharos, the Egyptian._ By GUY BOOTHBY.
262. _Paul Carah, Cornishman._ By CHARLES LEE.
263. _Pursued by the Law._ By J. MACLAREN COBBAN.
264. _Madame Izàn._ By Mrs. CAMPBELL-PRAED.
265. _Fortune's my Foe._ By J. BLOUNDELLE-BURTON.
266. _A Cosmopolitan Comedy._ By ANNA ROBESON BROWN.
267. _The Kingdom of Hate._ By T. GALLON.
268. _The Game and the Candle._ By RHODA BROUGHTON.
269. _Dr. Nikola's Experiment._ By GUY BOOTHBY.
270. _The Strange Story of Hester Wynne._ By G. COLMORE.
271. _Lady Barbarity._ By J. C. SNAITH.
272. _A Bitter Heritage._ By JOHN BLOUNDELLE-BURTON.
273. _The Heiress of the Season._ By Sir WILLIAM MAGNAY, Bart.
"In their 'Town and Country Library,' as it is known familiarly, the
Messrs. Appleton have been remarkably successful both in preserving a
good standard and in the matter of popularity. Presumably this is one
of the very few efforts of the kind which have been successful for
more than a few months. And we think the secret of continued success
lies in the discrimination used in selecting tales that are clean,
pure, and withal of interest to the average reader's intelligence; and,
furthermore, to the fact that the editors have been using American
stories more and more frequently."--_New York Mail and Express._
"The percentage of excellence maintained throughout has been
extraordinary. It is probably within bounds to say that no other list
of legitimate fiction can show so many names of the first rank as
judged by popularity. From time to time in this manner new and powerful
pens are introduced."--_Rochester Herald._
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.
BOOKS BY ANTHONY HOPE.
The King's Mirror.
Illustrated. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
"Mr. Hope has never given more sustained proof of his cleverness than
in 'The King's Mirror.' In elegance, delicacy, and tact it ranks
with the best of his previous novels, while in the wide range of its
portraiture and the subtlety of its analysis it surpasses all his
earlier ventures."--_London Spectator._
"Mr. Anthony Hope is at his best in this new novel. He returns in some
measure to the color and atmosphere of 'The Prisoner of Zenda.' ... A
strong book, charged with close analysis and exquisite irony; a book
full of pathos and moral fiber--in short, a book to be read."--_London
Chronicle._
"A story of absorbing interest and one that will add greatly to the
author's reputation.... Told with all the brilliancy and charm which we
have come to associate with Mr. Anthony Hope's work."--_London Literary
World._
The Chronicles of Count Antonio.
With Photogravure Frontispiece by S. W. Van Schaick. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
"No adventures were ever better worth recounting than are those of
Antonio of Monte Velluto, a very Bayard among outlaws.... To all those
whose pulses still stir at the recital of deeds of high courage, we may
recommend this book.... The chronicle conveys the emotion of heroic
adventure, and is picturesquely written."--_London Daily News._
"It has literary merits all its own, of a deliberate and rather deep
order.... In point of execution 'The Chronicles of Count Antonio' is
the best work that Mr. Hope has yet done. The design is clearer, the
workmanship more elaborate, the style more colored."--_Westminster
Gazette._
The God in the Car.
New edition, uniform with "The Chronicles of Count Antonio." 12mo.
Cloth, $1.25.
"'The God in the Car' is just as clever, just as distinguished in
style, just as full of wit, and of what nowadays some persons like
better than wit--allusiveness--as any of his stories. It is saturated
with the modern atmosphere; is not only a very clever but a very strong
story; in some respects, we think, the strongest Mr. Hope has yet
written."--_London Speaker._
"A very remarkable book, deserving of critical analysis impossible
within our limit; brilliant, but not superficial; well considered, but
not elaborated; constructed with the proverbial art that conceals, but
yet allows itself to be enjoyed by readers to whom fine literary method
is a keen pleasure."--_London World._
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.
BOOKS BY E. F. BENSON.
Mammon and Co.
12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
"Eminently readable."--_London Athenæum._
"Entertaining and amusing."--_London Academy._
"A novel of mark. Its character drawing is vigorous, its dialogue
vivacious."--_Literature._
"Mr. Benson writes from intimate knowledge and the inside. He is a part
of the very society which he openly censures.... His novel stands out
as a strong bit of work in which he is very much at home. Its brilliant
sayings and clever epigrams give it a finish and polish which are even
more effective than the setting itself. What is more, Mr. Benson sees
with a great deal of heart the tragedy of human experience and writes
of it feelingly."--_Boston Herald._
Dodo.
A Detail of the Day. 12mo. Paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.00.
"'Dodo' is a delightfully witty sketch of the 'smart' people of
society.... The writer is a true artist."--_London Spectator._
The Rubicon.
12mo. Paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.00.
"The anticipations which must have been formed by all readers of 'Dodo'
will in no wise be disappointed by 'The Rubicon.' The new work is well
written, stimulating, unconventional, and, in a word, characteristic.
Intellectual force is never absent, and the keen observation and
knowledge of character, of which there is abundant evidence, are aided
by real literary power."--_Birmingham Post._
"_A BOOK THAT WILL LIVE._"
_DAVID HARUM._ A Story of American Life. By EDWARD NOYES WESTCOTT.
12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
"Mr. Westcott has done for central New York what Mr. Cable, Mr. Page,
and Mr. Harris have done for different parts of the South, and what
Miss Jewett and Miss Wilkins are doing for New England, and Mr. Hamlin
Garland for the West.... 'David Harum' is a masterly delineation of
an American type.... Here is life with all its joys and sorrows....
David Harum lives in these pages as he will live in the mind of the
reader.... He deserves to be known by all good Americans; he is one of
them in boundless energy, in large-heartedness, in shrewdness, and in
humor."--_The Critic._
"Thoroughly a pure, original, and fresh American type. David Harum is
a character whose qualities of mind and heart, eccentricities, and
dry humor will win for his creator notable distinction. Buoyancy,
life, and cheerfulness are dominant notes. In its vividness and force
the story is a strong, fresh picture of American life. Original and
true, it is worth the same distinction which is accorded the _genre_
pictures of peculiar types and places sketched by Mr. George W. Cable,
Mr. Joel Chandler Harris, Mr. Thomas Nelson Page, Miss Wilkins, Miss
Jewett, Mr. Garland, Miss French, Miss Murfree, Mr. Gilbert Parker, Mr.
Owen Wister, and Bret Harte.... A pretty love story also adds to the
attractiveness of the book, that will be appreciated at once by every
one who enjoys real humor, strong character, true pictures of life, and
work that is 'racy of the soil.'"--_Boston Herald._
"Mr. Westcott has created a new and interesting type.... The character
sketching and building, so far as David Harum is concerned, is
well-nigh perfect. The book is wonderfully bright, readable, and
graphic."--_New York Times._
"The main character ought to become familiar to thousands of readers,
and will probably take his place in time beside Joel Chandler Harris's
and Thomas Nelson Page's and Miss Wilkins's creations."--_Chicago
Times-Herald._
"We give Edward Noyes Westcott his true place in American
letters--placing him as a humorist next to Mark Twain, as a master of
dialect above Lowell, as a descriptive writer equal to Bret Harte, and,
on the whole, as a novelist on a par with the best of those who live
and have their being in the heart of hearts of American readers. If the
author is dead--lamentable fact--his book will live."--_Philadelphia
Item._
"True, strong, and thoroughly alive, with a humor like that of Abraham
Lincoln and a nature as sweet at the core. The spirit of the book is
genial and wholesome, and the love story is in keeping with it.... The
book adds one more to the interesting list of native fiction destined
to live, portraying certain localities and types of American life and
manners."--_Boston Literary World._
"A notable contribution to those sectional studies of American life
by which our literature has been so greatly enriched in the past
generation.... A work of unusual merit."--_Philadelphia Press._
"One of the few distinct and living types in the American
gallery."--_St. Louis Globe-Democrat._
"The quaint character of 'David Harum' proves to be an inexhaustible
source of amusement."--_Chicago Evening Post._
"It would be hard to say wherein the author could have bettered the
portrait he sets before us."--_Providence Journal._
"Full of wit and sweetness."--_Baltimore Herald._
"Merits the heartiest and most unequivocal praise.... It is a pleasure
to call the reader's attention to this strong and most original novel,
a novel that is a decided and most enduring addition to American
literature."--_Boston Saturday Evening Gazette._
BOOKS BY GRAHAM TRAVERS.
_WINDYHAUGH._ A Novel. By GRAHAM TRAVERS, author of "Mona Maclean,
Medical Student," "Fellow Travellers," etc. 12mo, cloth, $1.50.
"'Windyhaugh' shows an infinitely more mature skill and more subtle
humor than 'Mona Maclean' and a profounder insight into life. The
psychology of Dr. Todd's remarkable book is all of the right kind;
and there is not in English fiction a more careful and penetrating
analysis of the evolution of a woman's mind than is given in Wilhelmina
Galbraith; but 'Windyhaugh' is not a book in which there is only one
'star' and a crowd of 'supers.' Every character is limned with a
conscientious care that bespeaks the true artist, and the analytical
interest of the novel is rigorously kept in its proper place and is
only one element in a delightful story. It is a supremely interesting
and wholesome book, and in an age when excellence of technique has
reached a remarkable level, 'Windyhaugh' compels admiration for its
brilliancy of style. Dr. Todd paints on a large canvas, but she has a
true sense of proportion."--_Blackwood's Magazine._
"For truth to life, for adherence to a clear line of action, for
arrival at the point toward which it has aimed from the first, such
a book as 'Windyhaugh' must be judged remarkable. There is vigor and
brilliancy. It is a book that must be read from the beginning to the
end and that it is a satisfaction to have read."--_Boston Journal._
"Its easy style, its natural characters, and its general tone
of earnestness assure its author a high rank among contemporary
novelists."--_Chicago Tribune._
"We can cordially eulogize the splendid vitality of the work, its
brilliancy, its pathos, its polished and crystalline style, and its
remarkable character-painting."--_New York Home Journal._
_MONA MACLEAN, Medical Student._ 12mo, paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.00.
"A high-bred comedy."--_New York Times._
"'Mona Maclean' is a bright, healthful, winning story."--_New York Mail
and Express._
"Mona is a very attractive person, and her story is decidedly well
told."--_San Francisco Argonaut._
"A pleasure in store for you if you have not read this volume. The
author has given us a thoroughly natural series of events, and drawn
her characters like an artist. It is the story of a woman's struggles
with her own soul. She is a woman of resource, a strong woman, and her
career is interesting from beginning to end."--_New York Herald._
_FELLOW TRAVELLERS._ 12mo, paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.00.
"The stories are well told; the literary style is above the average,
and the character drawing is to be particularly praised.... Altogether,
the little book is a model of its kind, and its reading will give
pleasure to people of taste."--_Boston Saturday Evening Gazette._
"'Fellow Travellers' is a collection of very brightly written tales,
all dealing, as the title implies, with the mutual relations of people
thrown together casually while traveling."--_London Saturday Review._
BOOKS BY FRANK T. BULLEN.
The Log of a Sea-Waif.
Being Recollections of the First Four Years of my Sea Life.
Illustrated. Uniform Edition. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
The brilliant author of "The Cruise of the Cachalot" and "Idylls of
the Sea" presents in this new work the continuous story of the actual
experiences of his first four years at sea. In graphic and picturesque
phrases he has sketched the events of voyages to the West Indies, to
Bombay and the Coromandel coast, to Melbourne and Rangoon. Nothing
could be of more absorbing interest than this wonderfully vivid
account of foks'l humanity, and the adventures and strange sights and
experiences attendant upon deep-sea voyages. It is easy to see in this
book an English companion to our own "Two Years before the Mast."
Idylls of the Sea.
12mo. Cloth, $1.25.
"The 'deep-sea wonder and mystery' which Kipling found in Frank T.
Bullen's 'Cruise of the Cachalot' is appreciable again in this literary
mate's new book, 'Idylls of the Sea.' We feel ourselves tossed with him
at the mercy of the weltering elements," etc.--_Philadelphia Record._
"Amplifies and intensifies the picture of the sea which Mr. Bullen
had already produced.... Calm, shipwreck, the surface and depths of
the sea, the monsters of the deep, superstitions and tales of the
sailors--all find a place in this strange and exciting book."--_Chicago
Times-Herald._
The Cruise of the Cachalot.
Round the World after Sperm Whales. Illustrated. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
"It is immense--there is no other word. I've never read anything that
equals it in its deep-sea wonder and mystery, nor do I think that any
book before has so completely covered the whole business of whale
fishing, and, at the same time, given such real and new sea pictures. I
congratulate you most heartily. It's a new world you've opened the door
to."--_Rudyard Kipling._
"Written with racy freedom of literary expression and luxuriant
abundance of incident, so that 'The Cruise of the Cachalot' becomes a
story of fascinating vividness which thrills the reader and amuses him.
The volume is no less enthralling? than 'Two Years before the Mast,'
and higher praise can not be accorded to a story of the sea.... A book
of such extraordinary merit seldom comes to hand."--_Philadelphia
Press._
BOOKS BY CY WARMAN.
Snow on the Headlight.
A Story of the Great Burlington Strike. 12mo. Cloth, $1.25.
"Mr. Warman holds a unique position among our tellers of tales, since
he alone is a practical railroad man, who knows the work, and has done
it, in all its details."--_New York Mail and Express._
"Plenty of close-range photographs, interior views, of the great
Burlington strike are to be found in Cy Warman's book."--_Philadelphia
Times._
"It has the great virtue of being a plain story plainly told by one
who knows. Whatever other impression it may convey to the reader, it
conveys most strongly the impression of truth. And this plain truth,
told in a plain way, is a terrible thing. One can feel all the way
through that half the tale--and perhaps the worst half--is left untold,
yet such as stands in print is sufficient, and to the reader who
cares for something more than the superficial adventurous incident of
the book it will not be without its instructive influence."--_Denver
Republican._
"Told with all the freshness and vividness of an
eyewitness."--_Philadelphia Call._
"Will be read with interest by all railroad men."--_Galesburg (Ill.)
Mail._
The Story of the Railroad.
Illustrated. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
"Far more interesting than the average novel.... Mr. Warman's volume
makes us hear and feel the rush of modern civilization. It gives us
also the human side of the picture--the struggles of the frontiersman
and his family, the dismay and cruel wrath of the retreating savage,
the heroism of the advance guard of the railway builders, and the
cutthroat struggles of competing lines. He does not deal greatly with
statistics, but the figures he uses help make up the stunning effect of
gigantic enterprise. There is not a dull page in the book."--_New York
Evening Post._
"Intensely interesting--a history that reads like a romance, and
compared with whose marvelous story indeed most modern romances will
seem spiritless and tame."--_Charleston News and Courier._
"Worthy to stand on the same shelf with Hough's Story of the
Cowboy."--_Milwaukee Journal._
MISS DOUGALL'S BOOKS.
_THE MORMON PROPHET._ 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
"A striking story.... Immensely interesting and diverting, and as a
romance it certainly has a unique power."--_Boston Herald._
"In 'The Mormon Prophet' Miss Lily Dougall has told, in strongly
dramatic form, the story of Joseph Smith and of the growth of the
Church of the Latter-Day Saints, which has again come prominently
before the public through the election of a polygamist to Congress....
Miss Dougall has handled her subject with consummate skill.... She
has rightly seen that this man's life contained splendid material for
a historical novel. She has taken no unwarranted liberties with the
truth, and has succeeded in furnishing a story whose scope broadens
with each succeeding chapter until the end."--_New York Mail and
Express._
"Mormonism is not ordinarily regarded as capable of romantic treatment,
but in the hands of Miss Dougall it has yielded results which are
calculated to attract the general public as well as the student
of psychology.... Miss Dougall has handled a difficult theme with
conspicuous delicacy; the most sordid details of the narrative are
redeemed by the glamour of her style, her analysis of the strangely
mixed character of the prophet is remarkable for its detachment and
impartiality, while in Susannah Halsey she has given us a really
beautiful study of nobly compassionate womanhood. We certainly know of
no more illuminative commentary on the rise of this extraordinary sect
than is furnished by Miss Dougall's novel."--_London Spectator._
"Miss Dougall may be congratulated both on her choice of a subject
for her new book and on her remarkably able and interesting treatment
of it.... A fascinating story, which is even more remarkable and more
fascinating as a psychological study."--_The Scotsman._
_THE MADONNA OF A DAY._ 12mo. Cloth, $1.00; paper, 50 cents.
"An entirely unique story. Alive with incident and related in a fresh
and captivating style."--_Philadelphia Press._
"A novel that stands quite by itself, and that in theme as well as
in artistic merit should make a very strong appeal to the mind of a
sympathetic reader."--_Boston Beacon._
_THE MERMAID._ 12mo. Cloth, $1.00; paper, 50 cents.
"The author of this novel has the gift of contrivance and the skill
to sustain the interest of a plot through all its development. 'The
Mermaid' is an odd and interesting story."--_New York Times._
_THE ZEIT-GEIST._ 16mo. Cloth, 75 cents.
"One of the most remarkable novels."--_New York Commercial Advertiser._
TWO SUCCESSFUL AMERICAN NOVELS.
_LATITUDE 19°._ A Romance of the West Indies in the Year of our Lord
1820. Being a faithful account and true, of the painful adventures of
the Skipper, the Bo's'n, the Smith, the Mate, and Cynthia. By Mrs.
SCHUYLER CROWNINSHIELD. Illustrated. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
"'Latitude 19°' is a novel of incident, of the open air, of the sea,
the shore, the mountain eyrie, and of breathing, living entities,
who deal with Nature at first hand.... The adventures described are
peculiarly novel and interesting.... Packed with incidents, infused
with humor and wit, and faithful to the types introduced, this book
will surely appeal to the large audience already won, and beget new
friends among those who believe in fiction that is healthy without
being maudlin, and is strong without losing the truth."--_New York
Herald._
"A story filled with rapid and exciting action from the first page to
the last. A fecundity of invention that never lags, and a judiciously
used vein of humor."--_The Critic._
"A volume of deep, undeniable charm. A unique book from a fresh, sure,
vigorous pen."--_Boston Journal._
"Adventurous and romantic enough to satisfy the most exacting
reader.... Abounds in situations which make the blood run cold,
and yet, full of surprises as it is, one is continually amazed by
the plausibility of the main incidents of the narrative.... A very
successful effort to portray the sort of adventures that might have
taken place in the West Indies seventy-five or eighty years ago....
Very entertaining with its dry humor."--_Boston Herald._
_A HERALD OF THE WEST._ An American Story of 1811-1815. By J. A.
ALTSHELER, author of "A Soldier of Manhattan" and "The Sun of
Saratoga." 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
"'A Herald of the West' is a romance of our history which has not
been surpassed in dramatic force, vivid coloring, and historical
interest.... In these days when the flush of war has only just
passed, the book ought to find thousands of readers, for it teaches
patriotism without intolerance, and it shows, what the war with Spain
has demonstrated anew, the power of the American people when they are
deeply roused by some great wrong."--_San Francisco Chronicle._
"The book throughout is extremely well written. It is condensed, vivid,
picturesque.... A rattling good story, and unrivaled in fiction for its
presentation of the American feeling toward England during our second
conflict."--_Boston Herald._
"Holds the attention continuously.... The book abounds in thrilling
attractions.... It is a solid and dignified acquisition to the
romantic literature of our own country, built around facts and real
persons."--_Chicago Times-Herald._
"In a style that is strong and broad, the author of this timely novel
takes up a nascent period of our national history and founds upon it a
story of absorbing interest."--_Philadelphia Item._
"Mr. Altsheler has given us an accurate as well as picturesque
portrayal of the social and political conditions which prevailed in
the republic in the era made famous by the second war with Great
Britain."--_Brooklyn Eagle._
BOOKS BY GILBERT PARKER.
Uniform Edition.
The Seats of the Mighty.
Being the Memoirs of Captain Robert MORAY, sometime an Officer in the
Virginia Regiment, and afterwards of Amherst's Regiment. Illustrated,
$1.50.
"Another historical romance of the vividness and intensity of 'The
Seats of the Mighty' has never come from the pen of an American. Mr.
Parker's latest work may without hesitation be set down as the best he
has done. From the first chapter to the last word interest in the book
never wanes; one finds it difficult to interrupt the narrative with
breathing space. It whirls with excitement and strange adventure....
All of the scenes do homage to the genius of Mr. Parker, and make 'The
Seats of the Mighty' one of the books of the year."--_Chicago Record._
"Mr. Gilbert Parker is to be congratulated on the excellence of his
latest story, 'The Seats of the Mighty,' and his readers are to be
congratulated on the direction which his talents have taken therein....
It is so good that we do not stop to think of its literature, and the
personality of Doltaire is a masterpiece of creative art."--_New York
Mail and Express._
The Trail of the Sword. A Novel. $1.25.
"Mr. Parker here adds to a reputation already wide, and anew
demonstrates his power of pictorial portrayal and of strong dramatic
situation and climax."--_Philadelphia Bulletin._
The Trespasser. $1.25
"Interest, pith, force, and charm--Mr. Parker's new story possesses
all these qualities.... Almost bare of synthetical decoration, his
paragraphs are stirring because they are real. We read at times--as we
have read the great masters of romance--breathlessly."--_The Critic._
The Translation of a Savage. $1.25.
"A book which no one will be satisfied to put down until the end has
been matter of certainty and assurance."--_The Nation._
Mrs. Falchion. $1.25.
"A well-knit story, told in an exceedingly interesting way, and holding
the reader's attention to the end."
The Pomp of the Lavilettes. 16mo. Cloth, $1.25.
"Its sincerity and rugged force will commend it to those who love and
seek strong work in fiction."--_The Critic._
By S. R. CROCKETT.
Uniform edition. Each, 12mo, cloth, $1.50.
_THE STANDARD BEARER._ An Historical Romance.
"Mr. Crockett's book is distinctly one of _the_ books of the year. Five
months of 1898 have passed without bringing to the reviewers' desk
anything to be compared with it in beauty of description, convincing
characterization, absorbing plot and humorous appeal. The freshness and
sweet sincerity of the tale are most invigorating, and that the book
will be very much read there is no possible doubt."--_Boston Budget._
"The book will move to tears, provoke to laughter, stir the blood, and
evoke heroisms of history, making the reading of it a delight and the
memory of it a stimulus and a joy."--_New York Evangelist._
_LADS' LOVE._ Illustrated.
"It seems to us that there is in this latest product much of the
realism of personal experience. However modified and disguised, it
is hardly possible to think that the writer's personality does not
present itself in Saunders McQuhirr.... Rarely has the author drawn
more truly from life than in the cases of Nance and 'the Hempie';
never more typical Scotsman of the humble sort than the farmer Peter
Chrystie."--_London Athenæum._
_CLEG KELLY, ARAB OF THE CITY. His Progress and Adventures._
Illustrated.
"A masterpiece which Mark Twain himself has never rivaled.... If
there ever was an ideal character in fiction it is this heroic
ragamuffin."--_London Daily Chronicle._
"In no one of his books does Mr. Crockett give us a brighter or more
graphic picture of contemporary Scotch life than in 'Cleg Kelly.' ...
It is one of the great books."--_Boston Daily Advertiser._
_BOG-MYRTLE AND PEAT._ Third edition.
"Here are idylls, epics, dramas of human life, written in words that
thrill and burn.... Each is a poem that has an immortal flavor. They
are fragments of the author's early dreams, too bright, too gorgeous,
too full of the blood of rubies and the life of diamonds to be caught
and held palpitating in expression's grasp."--_Boston Courier._
"Hardly a sketch among them all that will not afford pleasure to the
reader for its genial humor, artistic local coloring, and admirable
portrayal of character."--_Boston Home Journal._
_THE LILAC SUNBONNET._ Eighth edition.
"A love story, pure and simple, one of the old fashioned, wholesome,
sun-shiny kind, with a pure-minded, sound-hearted hero, and a heroine
who is merely a good and beautiful woman; and if any other love
story half so sweet has been written this year it has escaped our
notice."--_New York Times._
"The general conception of the story, the motive of which is the growth
of love between the young chief and heroine, is delineated with a
sweetness and a freshness, a naturalness and a certainty, which places
'The Lilac Sunbonnet' among the best stories of the time."--_New York
Mail and Express._