Man and Wife
THE VILLA AT HAMPSTEAD. I.
ON a summer’s morning, between thirty and forty years ago, two girls were crying bitterly in the cabin of an East Indian passenger ship, bound outward, from Gravesend to Bombay.
They were both of the same age—eighteen. They had both, from childhood upward, been close and dear friends at the same school. They were now parting for the first time—and parting, it might be, for life.
The name of one was Blanche. The name of the other was Anne.
Both were the children of poor parents, both had been pupil-teachers at the school; and both were destined to earn their own bread. Personally speaking, and socially speaking, these were the only points of resemblance between them.
Blanche was passably attractive and passably intelligent, and no more. Anne was rarely beautiful and rarely endowed. Blanche’s parents were worthy people, whose first consideration was to secure, at any sacrifice, the future well-being of their child. Anne’s parents were heartless and depraved. Their one idea, in connection with their daughter, was to speculate on her beauty, and to turn her abilities to profitable account.
The girls were starting in life under widely different conditions. Blanche was going to India, to be governess in the household of a Judge, under care of the Judge’s wife. Anne was to wait at home until the first opportunity offered of sending her cheaply to Milan. There, among strangers, she was to be perfected in the actress’s and the singer’s art; then to return to England, and make the fortune of her family on the lyric stage.
Such were the prospects of the two as they sat together in the cabin of the Indiaman locked fast in each other’s arms, and crying bitterly. The whispered farewell talk exchanged between them—exaggerated and impulsive as girls’ talk is apt to be—came honestly, in each case, straight from the heart.
“Blanche! you may be married in India. Make your husband bring you back to England.”
“Anne! you may take a dislike to the stage. Come out to India if you do.”
Wilkie Collins
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MAN AND WIFE
PROLOGUE.—THE IRISH MARRIAGE.
Part the First.
Part the Second.
THE STORY.
FIRST SCENE.—THE SUMMER-HOUSE.
CHAPTER THE FIRST.
CHAPTER THE SECOND.
THE GUESTS.
CHAPTER THE THIRD.
THE DISCOVERIES.
CHAPTER THE FOURTH.
THE TWO.
CHAPTER THE FIFTH.
THE PLAN.
CHAPTER THE SIXTH.
THE SUITOR.
CHAPTER THE SEVENTH.
THE DEBT.
CHAPTER THE EIGHTH.
THE SCANDAL.
SECOND SCENE.—THE INN.
CHAPTER THE NINTH.
ANNE.
CHAPTER THE TENTH.
MR. BISHOPRIGGS.
CHAPTER THE ELEVENTH.
SIR PATRICK.
CHAPTER THE TWELFTH.
ARNOLD.
CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH.
BLANCHE.
THIRD SCENE.—LONDON.
CHAPTER THE FOURTEENTH.
GEOFFREY AS A LETTER-WRITER.
CHAPTER THE FIFTEENTH.
GEOFFREY IN THE MARRIAGE MARKET.
CHAPTER THE SIXTEENTH.
GEOFFREY AS A PUBLIC CHARACTER.
FOURTH SCENE.—WINDYGATES.
CHAPTER THE SEVENTEENTH
NEAR IT.
CHAPTER THE EIGHTEENTH.
NEARER STILL.
CHAPTER THE NINETEENTH.
CLOSE ON IT.
CHAPTER THE TWENTIETH.
TOUCHING IT.
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIRST.
DONE!
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SECOND.
GONE.
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-THIRD.
TRACED.
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FOURTH.
BACKWARD.
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIFTH.
FORWARD.
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SIXTH.
DROPPED.
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SEVENTH.
OUTWITTED.
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-EIGHTH.
STIFLED.
FIFTH SCENE.—GLASGOW.
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-NINTH.
ANNE AMONG THE LAWYERS.
CHAPTER THE THIRTIETH.
ANNE IN THE NEWSPAPERS.
SIXTH SCENE.—SWANHAVEN LODGE.
CHAPTER THE THIRTY-FIRST
SEEDS OF THE FUTURE (FIRST SOWING).
CHAPTER THE THIRTY-SECOND.
SEEDS OF THE FUTURE (SECOND SOWING).
CHAPTER THE THIRTY-THIRD.
SEEDS OF THE FUTURE (THIRD SOWING).
SEVENTH SCENE.—HAM FARM.
CHAPTER THE THIRTY-FOURTH.
THE NIGHT BEFORE.
CHAPTER THE THIRTY-FIFTH.
THE DAY.
CHAPTER THE THIRTY-SIXTH.
THE TRUTH AT LAST.
CHAPTER THE THIRTY-SEVENTH.
THE WAY OUT.
CHAPTER THE THIRTY-EIGHTH.
THE NEWS FROM GLASGOW.
EIGHTH SCENE—THE PANTRY.
CHAPTER THE THIRTY-NINTH.
ANNE WINS A VICTORY.
NINTH SCENE.—THE MUSIC-ROOM.
CHAPTER THE FORTIETH.
JULIUS MAKES MISCHIEF.
TENTH SCENE—THE BEDROOM.
CHAPTER THE FORTY-FIRST.
LADY LUNDIE DOES HER DUTY.
ELEVENTH SCENE.—SIR PATRICK’S HOUSE.
CHAPTER THE FORTY-SECOND.
THE SMOKING-ROOM WINDOW.
CHAPTER THE FORTY-THIRD.
THE EXPLOSION.
TWELFTH SCENE.—DRURY LANE.
CHAPTER THE FORTY-FOURTH.
THE LETTER AND THE LAW.
THIRTEENTH SCENE.—FULHAM.
CHAPTER THE FORTY-FIFTH.
THE FOOT-RACE.
FOURTEENTH SCENE.—PORTLAND PLACE.
CHAPTER THE FORTY-SIXTH.
A SCOTCH MARRIAGE.
FIFTEENTH SCENE.—HOLCHESTER HOUSE.
CHAPTER THE FORTY-SEVENTH.
THE LAST CHANCE.
SIXTEENTH SCENE.—SALT PATCH.
CHAPTER THE FORTY-EIGHTH.
THE PLACE.
CHAPTER THE FORTY-NINTH.
THE NIGHT.
CHAPTER THE FIFTIETH.
THE MORNING.
CHAPTER THE FIFTY-FIRST.
THE PROPOSAL.
CHAPTER THE FIFTY-SECOND.
THE APPARITION.
CHAPTER THE FIFTY-THIRD.
WHAT had happened in the hours of darkness?
CHAPTER THE FIFTY-FOURTH.
THE MANUSCRIPT.
CHAPTER THE FIFTY-FIFTH.
THE SIGNS OF THE END.
CHAPTER THE FIFTY-SIXTH.
THE MEANS.
CHAPTER THE FIFTY-SEVENTH.
THE END.
EPILOGUE.