A noble sacrifice

"A noble sacrifice" by Emily Grace Harding is a novel written in the late 19th century. Set in a Welsh valley shadowed by a family curse, it follows Jack the boatman and the golden-haired foundling he names Little Miss Primrose, alongside a secretive Black Horseman and the troubled Earl of Bryn Afon, weaving themes of fate, hidden identity, and temperance against the menace of a haunted castle. The opening of the story presents a storm-lashed valley where Jack tends his beloved hand-bridge as a gipsy foretells disaster and hints at the castle’s curse. That night a veiled woman places a child in his arms on the bridge, leaving a note that entrusts Primrose to him, forbids strong drink, and warns her to keep away from the castle. As Primrose thrives, a black-cloaked rider arrives twice yearly with funds and news, while a mysterious red “star” burns at the castle windows one winter, unsettling Jack. The Earl briefly returns with gay guests; Jack intervenes when wine is offered to the child, and later recounts his own daughter’s death in the subterranean passage and how grief drove him to build the bridge. Primrose grows under the kindly tutelage of Master Rhys at the old monastery, learns both Welsh and English, and is secretly taken on a long ride to see her beautiful, sorrowing mother. Years pass, the castle lapses into silence again, and the gipsy’s whispers persist, until, at the start of a late summer evening when Primrose is about fourteen, she drifts in her coracle and notices a fisherman with merry blue eyes whose face feels strangely familiar.

A noble sacrifice, by Emily Grace Harding. Republished by OpenStories from Project Gutenberg eBook #77224.