A NOBLE WOMAN.
BY MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS.
AUTHOR OF "PALACES AND PRISONS," "FASHION AND FAMINE," "MARRIED IN
HASTE," "MABEL'S MISTAKE," "DOUBLY FALSE," "WIVES AND WIDOWS," "MARY
DERWENT," "THE HEIRESS," "THE REJECTED WIFE," "THE SOLDIER'S ORPHANS,"
"THE OLD HOMESTEAD," "RUBY GRAY'S STRATEGY," "THE CURSE OF GOLD," "THE
WIFE'S SECRET," "THE GOLD BRICK," "SILENT STRUGGLES," ETC.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by
T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
"A Noble Woman," is the name of the new novel written by Mrs. Ann S.
Stephens. Its pages are replete with incidents of absorbing interest,
and her admirers will read it with avidity, and with a zest which would
indicate that the freshness and interest of each of her new novels are
still as potent as were her earliest productions. The leading characters
are carried through a series of exciting adventures, all of which are
narrated and drawn out with such ingenuity that the reader's attention
is kept on a tension of interest from the opening page to the close of
the volume. This is the great secret of Mrs. Stephens' success--her
readers cannot get out of her influence. She does not fatigue them with
the subtleties of metaphysics or philosophy. She gives you a thrilling
story, pure and simple, sensational if you please, and she leaves the
whole affair in the hands of her readers, feeling quite secure of a
favorable verdict on every new emanation from her pen. "A Noble Woman"
will prove to be the most popular novel that she has ever written.
PHILADELPHIA:
T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS;
306 CHESTNUT STREET.
CONTENTS.
I.--A PROPOSAL
II.--TOM THE GROOMSMAN
III.--A FRIGHT AND A RESCUE
IV.--HIGH FESTIVAL AT PINEY COVE
V.--A BALL IN THE BASEMENT
VI.--THE WEDDING
VII.--THE FIRST CLOUD
VIII.--THE BRIDE'S WELCOME HOME
IX.--COUSIN TOM VISITS PINEY COVE
X.--SHADOWS OF A SEPARATION
XI.--THE BALL
XII.--TOM MAKES A DECLARATION
XIII.--WHO COULD IT HAVE BEEN?
XIV.--THE HUSBAND'S LAST CHARGE
XV.--MRS. HARRINGTON'S FRIENDS
XVI.--THE WIDOW'S FLIRTATION
XVII.--STARTING FOR THE PIC-NIC
XVIII.--FACE TO FACE
XIX.--LETTERS
XX.--AN INTERVIEW IN THE WOODS
XXI.--FIRE AND WATER
XXII.--AMONG THE BREAKERS
XXIII.--DEAD AND GONE
XXIV.--HOME IN A STORM
XXV.--THE SUNSHINE OF THE HOUSE
XXVI.--SUNSHINE AND STORMS
XXVII.--COURTSHIP IN THE KITCHEN
XXVIII.--THE DEAD SECRET
XXIX.--TOM FULLER'S LETTER
XXX.--THE WIDOW'S FASCINATIONS
XXXI.--THE HEIR COMES HOME
XXXII.--THE GAUNTLET BRACELETS
XXXIII.--SEARCHING FOR THE BRACELET
XXXIV.--BELOW STAIRS
XXXV.--MRS. MELLEN AND HER COUSIN
XXXVI.--LURED INTO DANGER
XXXVII.--THE AFTER STRUGGLE
XXXVIII.--A HALF UNDERSTANDING
XXXIX.--TRIFLES LIGHT AS AIR
XL.--TWO FACES IN THE GLASS
XLI.--SECRECY IMPOSED ON TOM FULLER
XLII.--THE RIDE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
XLIII.--KINDLY ANXIETIES
XLIV.--ALMOST DEFIANCE
XLV.--THE TIGER IN HIS DEN
XLVI.--THE PAWNBROKER'S SHOP
XLVII.--TEASING CONTINUALLY
XLVIII.--THE PET MESSENGER
XLIX.--ELSIE FINDS THE BRACELET
L.--IN THE TEMPEST
LI.--THE OLD CEDAR TREE
LII.--WOODMAN, SPARE THAT TREE
LIII.--CLORINDA'S GHOST STORY
LIV.--THE SABLE FORTUNE HUNTER
LV.--IN THE NET
LVI.--THE SECRET TELEGRAM
LVII.--KITCHEN GOSSIP
LVIII.--THE INTERCEPTED TELEGRAM
LIX.--FORCED HOSPITALITY
LX.--WAITING FOR THE HOUR
LXI.--THE MIDNIGHT SEARCH
LXII.--UNDER THE CEDAR
LXIII.--FACE TO FACE
LXIV.--BURIED OUT OF SIGHT
LXV.--THE HUSBAND RELENTS
LXVI.--GONE
LXVII.--UTTER LONELINESS
LXVIII.--PLANS AND LETTERS
LXIX.--ELSIE PROMISES TO BE FAITHLESS
LXX.--ALMOST A PROPOSAL
LXXI.--FUTILE PLEADINGS
LXXII.--TOM FULLER RETURNS
LXXIII.--A FEAST AND A LOVE FEAST
LXXIV.--THAT MONEY IN THE BANK
LXXV.--UNEXPECTED DEVELOPMENTS
LXXVI.--THE CONFESSION
LXXVII.--SEARCHING
LXXVIII.--IN BENSON'S TAVERN
LXXIX.--RECONCILIATIONS
LXXX.--TOM ACCEPTS THE SITUATION
A NOBLE WOMAN.
CHAPTER I.
A PROPOSAL.
She was eighteen years old and would graduate in a few weeks, yet Elsie
looked like a child, lying there in that little white bed, with her
golden curls scattered on the pillow and the soft whiteness of her neck
and hands shaded by the delicate Valenciennes with which her night robe
was profusely decorated. A quantity of hot house flowers lay scattered
on the counterpane, where the girl had flung them, one by one, from a
bouquet she was still tearing to pieces. A frown was on her pretty
forehead, and her large violet eyes shone feverishly. It was seldom
anything half so lovely appeared in the confined sleeping rooms of that
highly fashionable boarding school. Indeed, since its foundation it is
doubtful if a creature half so beautiful as Elsie Mellen had ever slept
within its walls.
Just as the girl had littered the whole bed with flowers, which she
broke and crushed as a child breaks the toys he is weary of, the door of
the room opened, and a young lady entered, with a plate of hot-house
grapes in her hand. She was older than the sick girl by two or three
years, and in all respects a grave and most womanly contrast. Calm,
gracious and dignified, she came forward with an air of protection and
sat down by the bed, holding out her grapes.
"See what your brother has sent you."
The girl started up and flung back the hair from her face.
"From Piney Bend," she exclaimed, lifting one of the purple clusters in
her hand, and crowding two or three of the grapes into her mouth at
once, with the delicious greed of a naughty child. "Oh, how cool and
nice. Dear old Grant, I wonder when he is coming."
"Sometime to-day, the messenger said," answered the young lady, and a
soft peach-like bloom swept over her face as she spoke.
Elsie was looking at her friend; and a quick, mischievous light came
into her own face.
"Bessie," she murmured, in a voice mellowed and muffled by the grapes in
her mouth. "Don't tell me anything--only I think--I think--oh! wouldn't
it be fun?--there, there, how you are blushing."
"Blushing, how foolish! But I am glad to see you well enough even to
talk nonsense."
"Nonsense! look here, Miss Prim: if you're not in love with my brother
Grantley Mellen, I never was in love with anybody in my life."
"Elsie!"
"There, there! I shan't believe a word you say--more than that, I
believe he's in love with you."
No blushes burned that noble face now, for it grew white with a great
surprise, and for a moment Elizabeth Fuller's heart ceased to beat.
Could this be true! These light, careless words from a young girl seemed
to shake the foundation of her life. Did she love the man, who for three
weeks had been a daily visitor in that sick room, whose voice had been
music to her, whose eyes had been so often lifted to hers in tender
gratitude. Could her heart have proved so cruelly rebellious? Then the
other impossible things the girl had hinted at. Elsie had not meant it
for cruelty, but still it was very cruel, to startle her with glimpses
of a heaven she never must enter. What was she but a poor orphan girl,
teaching in that school in order to pay for the tuition which had
refined and educated her into the noble woman she unconsciously was. Of
course Mr. Mellen was grateful for the care she had taken of his
beautiful sister, and that was all. Elsie was almost well now, and would
leave the school that term. After that there was little chance that she
would ever see Grantley Mellen again.
"What on earth are you thinking about?" questioned Elsie, still busy
with her grapes. "Just tell me if we are to be sisters,--and I'm set on
it--you shall know all my secrets; it'll be so nice to have some one
that won't tell,--and I'll know yours. To begin, dear old Bessie:
_somebody_ sent me these flowers, and I hate 'em. It's my way. So many
at once, it stifles me. I wish he could see 'em now; wouldn't he just
long to box my ears--there, that's my first secret."
"But who is the man, Elsie?" enquired Miss Fuller, really disturbed by
this first confidence; for the girl was her room-mate, and had been
placed particularly under her care.
"Oh, that's my second secret--I'll tell you that when you're Grant's
wife. You haven't told me about your own adorer yet."
"How could I? One does not talk of lovers till they come."
"Oh Bessie Fuller; what a fraud you are! Just as if he hadn't been under
this very window again and again: just as if the flowers that get into
our room, no one can guess how, did not come from him. Why, half the
girls in school have seen him prowling round here like a great,
handsome, splendid tiger!"
"What are you talking of, Elsie?"
"No matter; I shan't tell Grant, he must think himself first and
foremost--what a lovely sister-in-law you will make."
"Elsie, my dear girl----"
"Don't interrupt me--don't say you wouldn't have him: that you like the
other fellow better, and all that. I tell you Grant is a prince, and you
shall be his princess. He's awful rich, too; our horrid old uncle left
him everything. I haven't got the value of a hair bracelet all my
own--that's another secret. The girls all think we share and share
alike, and I want them to keep up the idea; but you are different. Don't
you see it would be horrid hard for me if my brother should marry some
close, stingy thing, that might even grudge me a home at Piney Bend; but
with you--oh Bessie! Promise me that you will marry him."
Here Elsie flung down the stem of her grapes, and reaching out her arms,
threw them lovingly around Elizabeth's neck.
"Promise me, promise me!"
"You foolish darling! Lie down and be quiet, or I shall think you
light-headed again."
"But you shall, I declare you shall!--Hush! there is some one at the
door. Come in!"
A servant opened the door and informed the young ladies that Mr. Mellen
was in the parlor.
"Tell him to come up," said Elsie.
The servant went out, and Elsie sat up among her pillows, twisting that
splendid mass of hair around her head. As she stooped forward, her eyes
fell on the litter of broken flowers, and she called out eagerly,
"Oh Bessie, do sweep them up; throw them out of the window, under the
bed, anywhere, so that he does not know about them. There would be no
end to his questions, if he saw so much as a broken rose bud."
Elizabeth swept up the scattered flowers with her hands and cast them
through the open window, scarcely heeding what the girl said about them,
in the agitation of the moment. As she turned from the open sash,
Grantley Mellen came into the room. He was indeed a grand and noble
looking man, with dignity in his manner, and character in his face;
evidently possessed of strong but subdued passions, and a power of
concentration that might engender prejudices difficult to overcome. That
he was upright and honorable, you saw at a glance. When he sat down by
that fair young creature, and took her hand in his, the tenderness in
his voice and eyes thrilled Elizabeth to the heart. Elsie it simply
gratified.
"Why Bessie," she said, with threatening mischief in her eyes, "you
haven't spoken to Grant yet."
"Because he was occupied with you," answered Elizabeth with grave
dignity, that kept down the rebellious spirit in Elsie's eyes. "Now I
will shake hands with Mr. Mellen and go down to my class."
With a gentle, but not altogether unembarrassed greeting, the young lady
went out of the room, leaving the brother and sister together.
Two days after this scene in Elsie's chamber, Elizabeth Fuller stood in
one of the parlors of the establishment with her hand locked in that of
Grantley Mellen; startled, trembling, almost terrified by the great
happiness that had fallen upon her. He had asked her tenderly,
earnestly, and with a thrill of passion in his voice, to become his
wife.
The girl had not answered him: she literally could not speak; her large
gray eyes were lifted to his, wild with astonishment one moment, soft
with exquisite love light the next.
"Will you not speak to me?"
She attempted to answer him, but smiles rather than words parted her
lips; and tears, soft as dew, flooded the joy in her eyes. What did the
man want of words after that?
They sat down together on the nearest couch, and scarcely knowing how,
she found her heart so close to his, that the two seemed beating
together in a wild, sweet tumult. The glow of his first kiss was on her
lips; he was telling her in earnest, broken words, how fondly, how
dearly he loved her. Nobly would she feel herself mated when she became
the mistress of his home.
There was something besides smiles on those beautiful lips now. The
heart has its own language, and in that she had answered him.
"Do I love you?" she said; "who could help it? Is there a woman on earth
who could refuse such happiness? I forget myself, forget everything,
even the poor pride that might have struggled a little against the
disparity between us which seems lost to me now. I did not think it
would be so sweet to accept everything and give nothing."
"You certainly love me and no other living man!" he said in answer to
her sweet trustfulness. "Tell me that in words! tell me in looks! Make
me sure of it."
"Love you! Indeed, indeed I do. Never in my life have I given a thought
of such feelings to any man. If you can find happiness in owning every
pulse of a human soul, it is yours."
"I believe it and accept the happiness; now my wife--for in a few weeks
you must be that--let us go up to Elsie. She must be made happy also,
for the dear child loves you scarcely less than I do."
A thought of something like shame shot through the joy of the moment,
with Elizabeth. Had Elsie suggested this?
"Will she be pleased? Will she be surprised?"
"I hope so, I think so!" was Mellen's frank answer; "for hereafter, my
sweet wife must be a guardian angel to the dear child, for she has been,
till now, the dearest creature to me on earth."
"I, too, have loved her better than anything," said Elizabeth.
"Have I not seen that? Yes, I am sure we shall make Elsie perfectly
happy. She has dreaded the loneliness of my home. Now it will be bright
as heaven for her and for me."