LONDON:
JOHN MAXWELL AND CO.
4, SHOE LANE, FLEET STREET,
1878
[All rights reserved]
CONTENTS TO VOL. III.
| CHAP. | PAGE | |
| I. | Paternal Diplomacy | [1] |
| II. | Mr. Piper is accepted | [18] |
| III. | A Wedding March | [30] |
| IV. | Kenrick’s Return | [49] |
| V. | Mr. Scratchell goes to London | [60] |
| VI. | The Second Mrs. Piper | [74] |
| VII. | In the Churchyard | [88] |
| VIII. | Kenrick’s Wedding Day | [112] |
| IX. | Jilted | [122] |
| X. | Mrs. Piper’s Day | [132] |
| XI. | Captain Standish | [154] |
| XII. | At her Chariot Wheels | [168] |
| XIII. | Playing with Fire | [183] |
| XIV. | A Turn of Fortune’s Wheel | [202] |
| XV. | Mr. Piper asserts himself | [216] |
| XVI. | Captain Standish chooses a Horse | [230] |
| XVII. | Vanessa’s Visit | [244] |
| XVIII. | Opening his Eyes | [257] |
| XIX. | A Short Reckoning | [274] |
| XX. | Let Silence be about her Name | [289] |
| XXI. | ‘But prove me what it is I would not do’ | [308] |
| XXII. | Fair still, but Fair for no one saving me | [321] |
| Epilogue | [343] |
AN OPEN VERDICT.
CHAPTER I.
PATERNAL DIPLOMACY.
‘What!’ roared Mr. Scratchell, scarlet of visage, ‘you are asked to marry a man with fifteen thousand a year, and you refuse? Did anybody ever hear of such lunacy?’
Bella sat shivering at the paternal wrath. Mrs. Scratchell was weeping dumbly. All the younger Scratchells were ready to lift up their voices in a chorus of condemnation. Bella’s folly in refusing Mr. Piper was, in their eyes, a personal injury.
‘You would not ask me to marry a man I cannot love, would you, father?’ faltered Bella; ‘a man I can hardly respect.’