Mrs. Corder and her thirteen children are made comfortable by the liberality of Eudora. The worthy little widow owns the neatly-furnished house and the well-stocked shop in which she lives happily and does a flourishing business. Her elder children are apprenticed to profitable trades, and the younger ones are put to good schools. Mrs. Corder was always so happy, even in her adversity, that she could scarcely be said to be more so now in her prosperity.
Allworth Abbey remains untenanted, closely shut up and in charge of the housekeeper, Mrs. Vose, who prefers to live at the lodge, and who will not even be bribed to show the inside of the building,—no, not even to the most curious and importunate of tourists.
The Barony of Leaton remains in abeyance.
Malcolm Montrose, on the part of his wife, draws the large revenues of the Abbey estates that are flourishing under the care of an able steward.
Whether Mr. Montrose will ever advance his wife’s claim to the Barony of Leaton, or whether Eudora will ever have nerve enough to return to the scene of her terrible sorrows, remains an open question.
In the sunny land of her birth she is in the possession of all the happiness she is capable of enjoying—the love of a devoted husband, beautiful children, and faithful friends; an honorable position, an ample fortune, and good health. As for the rest, the scars of those early, deep wounds, they may possibly never be effaced in this world. As long as she lives on earth, perhaps some subjects and some memories will cause her cheek to blanch and her blood to curdle with a deadly soul-sickness; but we commend her, with all the stricken in heart and wounded in spirit to that Benignant Power, which being “almighty to create,” is also ALMIGHTY TO RENEW.
THE END.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
- Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in spelling.
- Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed. Also retained Chapter XI, “Runaway” in the Contents; “Wanderer” in the body text.