Mortomley's Estate, All 3 volumes in 1

Vol.I.
CHAP. PAGE

I. INTRODUCES MR. ASHERILL TO THE READER 1

II. A VERY WET SATURDAY 20

III. FOR MERCIES VOUCHSAFED 43

IV. SUMMER DAYS 63

V. ABOUT MRS. MORTOMLEY AND OTHERS 99

VI. MRS. MORTOMLEY IS ADVISED FOR HER GOOD 119

VII. LENORE 134

VIII. A DEAD FAINT 147

IX. THE FIRST MUTTERINGS OF THE STORM 167

X. MR. FORDE TAKES HIS HAT 200

XI. RUPERT SPEAKS VERY PLAINLY 225

XII. THE SAME DAY AT HOMEWOOD 242

XIII. MORTOMLEY'S FRIENDS 256

XIV. KLEINWORT IS SYMPATHETIC 271



Vol.II

CHAP. PAGE

I. MR. FORDE AT HOMEWOOD 1

II. KLEINWORT AND CO. IN CONSULTATION 18

III. MR. DEAN AND HIS FUTURE RELATIVES 50

IV. PREVISION 70

V. MR. DEAN GLORIFIES HIMSELF 85

VI. MR. GIBBONS' OPINION ON THE STATE OF AFFAIRS 107

VII. STRAWS 123

VIII. MR. SWANLAND STIRS HIS TEA 147

IX. IN THE 'TIMES' 169

X. MR. SWANLAND WISHES TO BE INFORMED 186

XI. MRS. MORTOMLEY'S FORTUNE 208

XII. LEAVING HOMEWOOD 223

XIII. DOLLY WRITES A LETTER 251

XIV. THE BEGINNING OF A NEW LIFE 277

XV. MR. FORDE MAKES A MISTAKE 292




Vol.III
CHAP. PAGE

I. THE MEETING OF CREDITORS 1

II. ONE FRIEND MOST FAITHFUL 29

III. WHAT MR. LANG THOUGHT 58

IV. MORTOMLEY'S BLUE 86

V. MR. SWANLAND'S CRUMPLED ROSE-LEAF 107

VI. SAUVE QUI PEUT 126

VII. MORTOMLEY UNDERSTANDS AT LAST 142

VIII. MR. WERNER ASKS A FAVOUR 165

IX. THE NEW YELLOW 187

X. A BROKEN REED 203

XI. TWO UNWELCOME VISITORS 231

XII. MRS. MORTOMLEY BREAKS THE NEWS 256

XIII. SAD CONFIDENCES 270

XIV. WHAT RUPERT HAD DONE 285

XV. MR. ASHERILL IS PERSUADED 298

XVI. CONCLUSION 324

.....

He opened his project cautiously to Mrs. Mortomley. The prospect of
returning to the beloved home might, he thought, prove too much for her
if the idea were broached without due preparation, so he tried, sitting
in the summer-house to lead up to it, but found his auditor
unsympathetic.

"She had loved Homewood dearly."

"Did she not love it now?"

"Yes, as one loves the dead."

"Should not she like to live there once more?"

"No; she could never forget, never while life lasted, what she had
suffered there."

And then she told her tale--told it looking with dry eyes over the
desolate wilderness which had once been so fair a home--told it all,
simply and without colouring, as a Frenchman might--supposing a
Frenchman capable of telling an unvarnished narrative--relate how the
Uhlans entered his modest habitation, and, not without insult, stripped
it bare.

"But do not you think your husband would like to come back here?" he
inquired after a long pause.

"Back here?" she repeated, "I think I understand now your intention; but
do not try to carry it out; Archie would never be happy here without
me."

"Is your objection to Homewood, then, so rooted?" he inquired, with a
disappointed smile.

For answer she only turned away her head, and he repeated his question.

Then she said, "I should not like my poor husband to arrange his future
with any reference to me."

She had been so bright, so cheerful, so eager about Mortomley's
prosperity, so reticent concerning her own ailments, that Mr. Douglas
had learned to think he must have erred in imagining that when first he
looked in her face he looked in the face of a woman for whom the fiat
had gone forth...