Chapter I: Front Matter

THE
HEIRESS OF GREENHURST.
An Autobiography.

BY MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS,

AUTHOR OF “FASHION AND FAMINE,” “THE OLD HOMESTEAD,” ETC., ETC.

* * * * *

NEW YORK:

EDWARD STEPHENS, PUBLISHER,
126 NASSAU STREET.

1857.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by

MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS,

In the Clerk’s Office of the United States District Court, for the
Southern District of New York.

W. H. TINSON, Stereotyper,
43 Centre street.

GEORGE RUSSELL & CO., Printers,
61 Beekman Street.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE
I. The First Gift, 9
II. The Sibyl’s Cave, 20
III. Chaleco and his Plunder, 28
IV. The Midnight Ramble, 37
V. Fairy Scenes and Fatal Passions, 56
VI. The Sibyl and the Lovers, 59
VII. Waiting for Vengeance, 66
VIII. The Broken Idol, 70
IX. Waiting and Fearing—A Wilderness of Beauty, 79
X. The Courier and his Wild Visitor, 83
XI. A Traveller’s Toilet, 88
XII. Temptations and Resolutions, 92
XIII. The Weird Wedding, 99
XIV. The Gitanilla’s Oath, 104
XV. The Mansion and the Cottage, 110
XVI. Concealments and Suspicions, 115
XVII. The Old Escritoir, 124
XVIII. The Lady of Marston Court, 130
XIX. My First Heart Tempest, 139
XX. My Mother’s Last Appeal, 143
XXI. The Oath Redeemed, 151
XXII. Lost Memories, 156
XXIII. The Threshold of my Father’s House, 162
XXIV. A Paradise of Rest, 167
XXV. Myself and my Shadow, 174
XXVI. The Fairy at the Pool, 181
XXVII. Funerals and Orphans, 187
XXVIII. Pleasant Days and Pleasant Teachings, 196
XXIX. My Strange Acquaintance, 204
XXX. The Involuntary Hunt and its Consequences, 207
XXXI. My Unexpected Escort, 216
XXXII. The Unwelcome Visitor, 224
XXXIII. Turner’s Struggle against Marriage, 230
XXXIV. The Reluctant Proposal, 236
XXXV. The Jovial Wedding and Random Shot, 240
XXXVI. My First Visit to Greenhurst—The Two Miniatures, 250
XXXVII. Sorrows, Doubts and Conjectures, 260
XXXVIII. The Hazlenut Hedge, 270
XXXIX. My Father’s Return, 276
XL. Once More at Greenhurst, 284
XLI. My Strange Visitor, 290
XLII. Visions and Retrospections, 301
XLIII. The Desolate Bridal Chambers, 310
XLIV. The Bronze Coffer and my Mother’s Journal, 319
XLV. The Shadowy Death-Chamber, 330
XLVI. A Visit to my Arch Enemy, 339
XLVII. My Lost Friend and my Lost Home, 352
XLVIII. Our Flight from Marston Court, 366
XLIX. The Mountain Lake and Hill-side Cottage, 368
L. The Antique Bible, 376
LI. The Island Cove, 382
LII. The Sheep-Farmer and his Wife, 391
LIII. Chaleco’s Triumph, 397
LIV. Irving and his Mother, 404
LV. Self-Abnegation, 411
LVI. The Old Tower Chamber, 425

DEDICATION.

MY MOTHER:

In dedicating this book to you, I have no choice of words; the
memories of a helpless and feeble childhood crowd too closely on my
heart for that. From the day when you received me an infant from the
arms of a dying sister, down to the calm twilight of your own most
useful life, I have a remembrance only of more than motherly kindness
and entire affection. My childhood and my youth, with all their joys
and tender griefs, are so beautifully blended with thoughts of your
household virtues and maternal love, that it is impossible to realize
that even partial orphanage was ever known to me.

I once hoped to blend with yours the name of that honored father, who
has but lately laid down the burden of almost fourscore years and ten,
and gone forth from the faithful affection which surrounded him here,
to the more perfect love of heaven. But my father is dead, and in the
holy welcome of angels the voice of his own child is hushed. Still,
through the golden chain of your love, my mother, this dedication
shall yet reach him. With you—who made his old age tranquil almost as
the heaven he approached, who went faithfully down to the valley of
the shadow of death, giving him up only to the angels that waited
there—I leave this homage, that it may be conveyed to him through your
nightly prayers.

ANN S. STEPHENS.

NEW YORK, _May, 1857_.

THE HEIRESS OF GREENHURST.