“The Reigning Belle” is one of the most powerful, original and exciting society novels ever published. Though Mrs. Ann S. Stephens, its famous and gifted author, has written many superb romances, she has surpassed herself in this. The scene is laid in New York, and fashionable society is liberally drawn upon, while lowly life also comes in for its share of treatment. The plot is thrilling, intricate and managed with consummate art, the reader being kept in complete ignorance of what the end is to be until it comes. In the web of impenetrable mystery a lost child, Eva Laurence, Herman Ross and Mrs. Lambert are involved, and upon them and their hidden relation to each other the thrilling romance hinges. Eva is a handsome shop-girl, who is adopted by the wife of a shoddy millionaire, Ross an artist with a past full of shadows, and Mrs. Lambert a society belle. Humor is furnished in abundance and stirring episodes come thick and fast. Eva has a devoted admirer in Ivon Lambert, and the love scenes between the pair are natural and delicious. “The Reigning Belle” is certain to find hosts of readers, and it possesses every requisite to delight and fascinate them all. Mrs. Stephens, as a writer, ranks among the best of all American authors, and her novels should be read by every lover of absorbing fiction, for they are among the best and most popular published, and will be found for sale by all Booksellers everywhere, or copies of any or all of them will be sent to any one, to any place, post-paid, on receipt of price by the publishers.
CONTENTS.
| Chapter | Page | |
|---|---|---|
| I.— | THE SHOPPING PARTY | [25] |
| II.— | THE GIRL OF THE TIMES | [28] |
| III.— | A HUMBLE HOME | [32] |
| IV.— | LITTLE JIMMY GOES AFTER WORK | [38] |
| V.— | A FEAST AFTER A FAMINE | [42] |
| VI.— | IN THE MORNING | [47] |
| VII.— | SUNSHINE | [51] |
| VIII.— | TRYING THINGS ON | [55] |
| IX.— | THE LAMBERT MANSION | [59] |
| X.— | DAWNING PROSPERITY | [64] |
| XI.— | GOSSIP IN THE BASEMENT | [69] |
| XII.— | JAMES MAKES AN ACQUAINTANCE | [74] |
| XIII.— | THE GENTLE INVALID | [80] |
| XIV.— | THE POLICEMAN’S DEATH | [84] |
| XV.— | ARTIST SYMPATHY | [89] |
| XVI.— | MRS. CARTER MAKES A VISIT | [92] |
| XVII.— | THE FIRST BANK NOTES | [97] |
| XVIII.— | OLD FRIENDS | [101] |
| XIX.— | MR. BATTLES IS DISGUSTED | [105] |
| XX.— | OVER THEIR TEA | [108] |
| XXI.— | A SLIGHT ALTERCATION | [111] |
| XXII.— | THE FIRST FRUITS OF GENIUS | [115] |
| XXIII.— | THE HIDDEN PACKAGE | [119] |
| XXIV.— | WHICH RIVER | [123] |
| XXV.— | THE PAWNBROKER | [131] |
| XXVI.— | THE PAWNBROKER’S OFFICE | [135] |
| XXVII.— | MRS. CARTER STANDS BY HER OLD FRIENDS | [137] |
| XXVIII.— | YOUNG LAMBERT SPEAKS OUT | [142] |
| XXIX.— | MISS SPICER | [145] |
| XXX.— | OLD MEMORIES AND PRESENT STRUGGLES | [149] |
| XXXI.— | BITTER JEALOUSY | [152] |
| XXXII.— | DRESSING FOR THE PARTY | [156] |
| XXXIII.— | ABOUT THE ROSES AND VIOLETS | [159] |
| XXXIV.— | MRS. CARTER BECOMES FASHIONABLE | [164] |
| XXXV.— | A STRANGE PROPOSAL | [168] |
| XXXVI.— | THE WAY SHE MANAGED HIM | [171] |
| XXXVII.— | A GLIMPSE OF FAIRY LAND | [175] |
| XXXVIII.— | FIGHTING ANGUISH | [178] |
| XXXIX.— | MR. AND MRS. SMITH | [181] |
| XL.— | OLD LOVERS | [184] |
| XLI.— | IVON AND EVA | [187] |
| XLII.— | A WOMAN TRANSFIGURED | [190] |
| XLIII.— | HERSELF AGAIN | [194] |
| XLIV.— | CLOSING THE SHUTTERS | [198] |
| XLV.— | WATCHING FROM THE PAVEMENT | [202] |
| XLVI.— | AFTER THE PARTY | [206] |
| XLVII.— | HOW MISS SPICER AND ELLEN POST FRATERNIZE | [210] |
| XLVIII.— | FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS | [213] |
| XLIX.— | MR. MAHONE | [217] |
| L.— | A BARGAIN AT LAST | [221] |
| LI.— | A BOY IN PRISON | [224] |
| LII.— | THE SECOND ARREST | [228] |
| LIII.— | THE WOMAN IN THE LAUNDRY | [230] |
| LIV.— | PREPARING FOR THE WEDDING | [234] |
| LV.— | EVA’S TEMPTATION | [238] |
| LVI.— | MRS. SMITH BRINGS PAINFUL NEWS | [242] |
| LVII.— | IN HASTE FOR THE WEDDING | [246] |
| LVIII.— | MOTHER AND SON | [253] |
| LIX.— | THE EXAMINATION COMPLETED | [259] |
| LX.— | AN UNEXPECTED WITNESS | [264] |
| LXI.— | WAITING FOR NEWS | [271] |
| LXII.— | THE MORTGAGE | [276] |
| LXIII.— | THE PRICE OF A BRACELET | [280] |
| LXIV.— | THE ADOPTION | [283] |
| LXV.— | IN THE PARK | [286] |
| LXVI.— | THE INDIA SHAWL | [292] |
| LXVII.— | THE PAWNBROKER GETS HIS PRICE | [296] |
| LXVIII.— | MISS SPICER RECEIVES HER DISMISSAL | [299] |
| LXIX.— | THE TRUTH | [304] |
| LXX.— | OUR CHILD | [308] |
| LXXI.— | A DOUBLE WEDDING | [313] |
THE REIGNING BELLE.
CHAPTER I.
THE SHOPPING PARTY.
Around her were such glowing colors, in masses, or floating airily through the room, that a face less richly tinted would have seemed pale by contrast. Behind her was a pile of India shawls, in which the rays of a gorgeous sunset seemed to have mellowed down in one soft, glowing heap. By her side was a morning-dress of Oriental cashmere, with vivid palm leaves running far up the skirt, which trailed down from the wire skeleton that supported it, and swept the floor like the plumage of a peacock.
In fact this vast show-room was one panorama of bright, beautiful things; and most beautiful of all was the young girl, with her rich complexion, just verging on the brunette, and her large, blue-gray eyes, that looked out from their sweeping lashes like shadowed waters where the rushes grow thickly. Her hair, too, was lustrous and abundant, neither black, auburn, nor brown, but with a gleam of each as the light chanced to fall on it.
The face, we have so imperfectly described, was turned toward a flight of stairs that led from the more general warerooms below, and across it flew a shadow of pride or pain, as a party of ladies, accompanied by one gentleman, came up the stairs, and loitered along the show-room, where she was standing. One of the clerks went forward to meet the party, and turning, walked by the side of the younger lady, who came on somewhat in advance of the rest, politely attentive to business.
“Shawls, did you say?”
“Yes,” answered the young lady, smiling blandly in the face of the clerk, whose soft amber beard stirred almost imperceptibly with an answering smile. “I scarcely know yet what we do want; but my friend has a perfect passion for shawls, and I dare say will add another to the variety she has stored away in her cedar-closet, where even the moths are forbidden to touch them. Oh Mrs. Lambert! here is something lovely!”