Chapter I: Front Matter

DOUBLY FALSE.

BY

MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS.

AUTHOR OF “FASHION AND FAMINE,” “THE SOLDIER’S ORPHANS,” “THE HEIRESS,”
“THE GOLD BRICK,” “SILENT STRUGGLES,” “THE OLD HOMESTEAD,” “THE
REJECTED WIFE,” “MARY DERWENT,” “THE WIFE’S SECRET,” ETC.

There is no pathway leading to the light,
Save that which honor treadeth for her own.
The only star, that guideth through the night,
Truth wears, triumphant, on her azure zone.

· · · · ·

The false, e’en to themselves are traitors all,
Deceit must ever end in weary strife.
As serpents’ eggs give vipers from the thrall
Of their water fosterage, it chains the life—
Coils in and out in many a poisonous fold,
And hisses through the future uncontrolled.

PHILADELPHIA:
T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS;
306 CHESTNUT STREET.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1898, by

T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS,

In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States, in
and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

TO

MY SON’S WIFE,

MRS. ANNIE SUTTON STEPHENS,

THIS BOOK IS

MOST AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.

ANN S. STEPHENS.

WASHINGTON, D. C., MAY 5TH, 1868.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE

I.— MUSIC AND DANCING 23

II.— OVERBOARD 29

III.— ADRIFT 40

IV.— THE MANSION ON THE RIVER 45

V.— THE IRON SAFE 54

VI.— EUNICE HURD 60

VII.— BROTHER AND SISTER 68

VIII.— FINDING THE WILL 75

IX.— THE BILL OF EXCHANGE 82

X.— MRS. LANDER ENTERS ON HER FORTUNE 93

XI.— SALE OF THE CHESTNUT HORSES 99

XII.— MEETING OF THE LOVERS 110

XIII.— THE MIDNIGHT HOUR 120

XIV.— THE TEMPTER AND THE TEMPTED 125

XV.— THE DISTURBED CONSCIENCE 136

XVI.— KINDRED LOVE 140

XVII.— DREAMS AND STRUGGLES 149

XVIII.— WHICH WAS THE DAUGHTER 158

XIX.— THE AUDACITY OF CRIME 168

XX.— EUNICE HURD EXASPERATED 177

XXI.— MRS. LANDER AND CORA VISIT LAWYER STONE 190

XXII.— ANOTHER STRANGE VISIT 195

XXIII.— THE WAYSIDE TAVERN 205

XXIV.— LOVE IN A LOG CABIN 212

XXV.— CORA LANDER AND EUNICE HURD IN COLLISION 225

XXVI.— THE FIEND AND THE ANGEL 232

XXVII.— PREPARING FOR HAPPINESS 241

XXVIII.— THAT BIJOU OF A HOME 256

XXIX.— THE WEDDING TOILET 267

XXX.— AFTER THE WEDDING 272

XXXI.— THE AUDACITY OF CRIME 279

XXXII.— A WEEK OF LOVE LIFE 288

XXXIII.— THE FIRST CLOUD 299

XXXIV.— EUNICE HURD FINDS HER MATCH AND SO DOES THE HEIRESS 308

XXXV.— CLARENCE BROOKS 319

XXXVI.— A LETTER FROM THE DEAD 327

XXXVII.— TELLING WHAT VIRGINIA AND ELLEN FOUND WHILE LOOKING FOR
CHESTNUTS 341

XXXVIII.— BREAKING IN THE BLACK HORSE 354

XXXIX.— THE FISHING PARTY 366

XL.— CLARENCE BROOKS TALKS CONFIDENTIALLY TO CORA LANDER 374

XLI.— WOMANLY FASCINATIONS 385

XLII.— A AUTUMN PIC-NIC IN THE WOODS 394

XLIII.— ELLEN NOLAN VISITS CLARENCE BROOKS 404

XLIV.— THE WHITE HORSE DISTANCES THE BLACK ONE 412

XLV.— GETTING RID OF WITNESSES 418

XLVI.— THE BROTHER’S CONFESSION 428

XLVII.— LISTENING AND PLOTTING 435

XLVIII.— HOPES OF REDEMPTION 448

XLIX.— JOSHUA HURD PROVES HOSPITABLE AND KIND 457

L.— THE FALSE STORY AND THE FORGED LETTER 466

LI.— THE MIDNIGHT RIDE 481

LII.— ANGELS’ VISITS 490

LIII.— THAT CRUEL LETTER 500

LIV.— IN PRISON 508

LV.— THE SECOND CONQUEST 516

LVI.— A NEW HOME 525

LVII.— PLEADING FOR A PARDON 532

LVIII.— DEATH IN THE LOG CABIN 535

LIX.— CONCLUSION 547

DOUBLY FALSE.