[CHAPTER I. A DYING WOMAN'S COMMAND.]
[CHAPTER II. READING OF THE WILL.]
[CHAPTER III. EVIL FOREBODINGS.]
[CHAPTER IV. A LIFE SAVED.]
[CHAPTER V. ATTEMPT AT MURDER.]
[CHAPTER VI. ST. UDO BRAND'S FIANCEE.]
[CHAPTER VII. A DUEL WITH A TRAITOR.]
[CHAPTER VIII. MARGARET'S VISION.]
[CHAPTER IX. A WOMAN'S VENGEANCE.]
[CHAPTER X. MARGARET AGAIN A WANDERER.]
[CHAPTER XI. UNREQUITED LOVE.]
[CHAPTER XII. ST. UDO BRAND NOT DEAD.]
[CHAPTER XIII. MARGARET GOES TO CASTLE BRAND.]
[CHAPTER XIV. WILL HE BETRAY HIMSELF?]
[CHAPTER XV. A STRUGGLE FOR LIFE.]
[CHAPTER XVI. UNVAILING AN IMPOSTOR.]
[CHAPTER XVII. CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE.]
[CHAPTER XVIII. MARGARET'S PERIL.]
[CHAPTER XIX. A PRAYER TO HEAVEN.]
[CHAPTER XX. THE IMPOSTOR FOILED.]
[CHAPTER XXI. WAS IT A RUSE?]
[CHAPTER XXII. PURSUIT OF A FELON.]
[CHAPTER XXIII. CHAINS OR THE GALLOWS.]
[CHAPTER XXIV. SELLING A SECRET.]
[CHAPTER XXV. OFF TO AMERICA.]
[CHAPTER XXVI. UNEXPECTED MEETING.]
[CHAPTER XXVII. A NEW ACQUAINTANCE.]
[CHAPTER XXVIII. NEWS OF ST. UDO BRAND.]
[CHAPTER XXIX. FOUND AT LAST.]
[CHAPTER XXX. A REVELATION.]
[CHAPTER XXXI. BRAND PLUCKED FROM THE BURNING.]
[CHAPTER XXXII. SWEET RECOMPENSE.]
[CHAPTER XXXIII. MARGARET'S HAPPY DESTINY.]
FAITHFUL MARGARET.
CHAPTER I.
A DYING WOMAN'S COMMAND.
She was dying—good old Ethel Brand, the mistress for half a century of the hoary castle which stood like an ancient cathedral in the midst of the noble estate in Surrey, Seven-Oak Waaste.
No need now of these whispering attendants, and that anxious little physician; she would not trouble them more. No need for these grim medicine vials, marshaled upon the little table near her couch; she was past mortal needs or mortal help; her face, set in cold repose, seemed glistening with supernal light, while waiting for the fatal kiss of death.
And over her bent a woman, breathless, pulseless, motionless, as if carved from stone, listening, with straining ear, for each slow, rattling breath; watching, with great, glistening eyes, for each darkening shadow over the noble face—Margaret Walsingham.
No high-born dame was she; no fortunate next-of-kin, watching with decorous lament for the moment of emancipation from her weary wait for a dead woman's shoes. Only Mrs. Brand's poor companion, Margaret Walsingham.