GWEN WYNN

CONTENTS.


PROLOGUE

I. THE HEROINE

II. THE HERO

III. A CHARON CORRUPTED

IV. ON THE RIVER

V. DANGERS AHEAD

VI. A DUCKING DESERVED

VII. AN INVETERATE NOVEL READER

VIII. A SUSPICIOUS STRANGER

IX. JEALOUS ALREADY

X. THE CUCKOO'S GLEN

XI. A WEED BY THE WYESIDE

XII. A WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING

XIII. AMONG THE ARROWS

XIV. BEATING ABOUT THE BUSH

XV. A SPIRITUAL ADVISER

XVI. CORACLE DICK

XVII. THE "CORPSE CANDLE"

XVIII. A CAT IN THE CUPBOARD

XIX. A BLACK SHADOW BEHIND

XX. UNDER THE ELM

XXI. A TARDY MESSENGER

XXII. A FATAL STEP

XXIII. A SUSPICIOUS WAIF

XXIV. "THE FLOWER OF LOVE-LIES-BLEEDING"

XXV. A FRENCH FEMME DE CHAMBRE

XXVI. THE POACHER AT HOME

XXVII. A MYSTERIOUS CONTRACT

XXVIII. THE GAME OF PIQUE

XXIX. JEALOUS AS A TIGER

XXX. STUNNED AND SILENT

XXXI. A STARTLING CRY

XXXII. MAKING READY FOR THE ROAD

XXXIII. A SLUMBERING HOUSEHOLD

XXXIV. "WHERE'S GWEN?"

XXXV. AGAIN THE ENGAGEMENT RING

XXXVI. A MYSTERIOUS EMBARKATION

XXXVII. AN ANXIOUS WIFE

XXXVIII. IMPATIENT FOR THE POST

XXXIX. JOURNEY INTERRUPTED

XL. HUE AND CRY

XLI. BOULOGNE-SUR-MER

XLII. WHAT DOES HE WANT?

XLIII. A GAGE D'AMOUR

XLIV. SUICIDE, OR MURDER

XLV. A PLENTIFUL CORRESPONDENCE

XLVI. FOUND DROWNED

XLVII. A MAN WHO THINKS IT MURDER

XLVIII. ONCE MORE UPON THE RIVER

XLIX. THE CRUSHED JUNIPER

L. REASONING BY ANALYSIS

LI. A SUSPICIOUS CRAFT

LII. MATERNAL SOLICITUDE

LIII. A SACRILEGIOUS HAND

LIV. A LATE TEA

LV. THE NEW MISTRESS OF THE MANSION

LVI. THE GAMBLERS AT LLANGORREN

LVII. AN UNWILLING NOVICE

LVIII. A CHEERFUL KITCHEN

LIX. QUEER BRIC-A-BRAC

LX. A BRACE OF BODY-SNATCHERS

LXI. IN WANT OF HELP

LXII. STILL ALIVE

LXIII. A STRANGE FATHER CONFESSOR

LXIV. A QUEER CATECHIST

LXV. ALMOST A "VERT"

LXVI. THE LAST OF LEWIN MURDOCK

LXVII. A CHAPTER DIPLOMATIC

LXVIII. A QUICK CONVERSION

LXIX. A SUDDEN RELAPSE

LXX. A JUSTIFIABLE ABDUCTION

LXXI. STARTING ON A CONTINENTAL TOUR

LXXII. CORACLE DICK ON HIS DEATH-BED

LXXIII. THE CALM AFTER THE STORM




GWEN WYNN:

A Romance of the Wye.




PROLOGUE.


Hail to thee, Wye--famed river of Siluria! Well deserving fame, worthy
of warmest salutation! From thy fountain-head on Plinlimmon's far slope,
where thou leapest forth, gay as a girl on her skip-rope, through the
rugged rocks of Brecon and Radnor, that like rude men would detain thee,
snatching but a kiss for their pains--on, as woman grown, with statelier
step, amid the wooded hills of Herefordshire, which treat thee with more
courtly consideration--still on, and once more rudely assailed by the
bold ramparts of Monmouth--through all thou makest way--in despite all,
preserving thy purity! If defiled before espousing the ocean, the fault
is not thine, but Sabrina's--sister born of thy birth, she too cradled
on Plinlimmon's breast, but since childhood's days separated from thee,
and straying through other shrines--perchance leading a less reputable
life. No blame to thee, beautiful Vaga--from source to Severn pure as
the spring that begets thee--fair to the eye, and full of interest to
reflect on. Scarce a reach of thy channel, or curve of thy course, but
is redolent of romance, and rich in the lore of history. On thy shores,
through the long centuries, has been enacted many a scene of gayest
pleasure and sternest strife; many an exciting episode, in which love
and hate, avarice and ambition--in short, every human passion has had
play. Overjoyed were the Roman Legionaries to behold their silver eagles
reflected from thy pellucid wave; though they did not succeed in
planting them on thy western shore till after many a tough struggle with
the gallant, but ill-starred, Caractacus. Long, too, had the Saxons to
battle before they could make good their footing on the Silurian
side--as witness the Dyke of Offa. Later, the Normans obtained it only
through treachery, by the murder of the princely Llewellyn; and, later
still, did the bold Glendower make thy banks the scene of patriotic
strife; while, last of all, sawest thou conflict in still nobler
cause--as of more glorious remembrance--when the earnest soldiers of the
Parliament encountered the so-called Cavaliers, and purged thy shores of
the ribald rout, making them pure as thy waters.