Bessies Fortune

Bessie's Fortune

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bessie's Fortune, by Mary J. Holmes
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Title: Bessie's Fortune A Novel
Author: Mary J. Holmes
Release Date: March 7, 2005 [EBook #15275]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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BESSIE'S FORTUNE.
A Novel.
MRS. MARY J. HOLMES,
AUTHOR OF
TEMPEST AND SUNSHINE.--DARKNESS AND
DAYLIGHT.--MILBANK.--ENGLISH ORPHANS.--LENA
RIVERS.--ETHELYN'S MISTAKE.--HUGH
WORTHINGTON.--MADELINE.--WEST LAWN.--MARIAN
GREY--EDNA BROWNING, ETC.
NEW YORK: _G.W. Dillingham, Publisher_, SUCCESSOR TO G.W.

CARLETON & CO. LONDON: S. LOW, SON & CO.
MDCCCLXXXVIII.
TO MY NEPHEW,
WALTER H. TWICHELL
(OF WORCESTER. MASS.)
I DEDICATE THIS STORY OF BESSIE,
WHICH WILL REMIND HIM OF A HAPPY YEAR IN EUROPE.

CONTENTS

PART I.
I. The Jerrolds of Boston II. Grey Jerrold III. Lucy IV. Thanksgiving
Day at Grey's Park V. The Old Man and the Boy VI. Miss Betsey
McPherson VII. The Dinner at Which Bessie is Introduced VIII. After
The Dinner IX. The Horror at the Farm-House X. The Interview XI. At
the Old Man's Bedside XII. The Story XIII. Facing it XIV. The Effect
of the Story XV. Grey and the Secret XVI. Expecting Bessie

PART II.
I. Stoneleigh II. The McPhersons III. At Monte Carlo IV. Little Bessie
V. At Penrhyn Park VI. Seven Years Later VII. Neil's Discomforture
VIII. Jack and Bessie IX. Christmas at Stoneleigh X. Grey XI.
Christmas Day XII. The Contract XIII. The New Grey XIV. Miss
McPherson and the Letter XV. From January to March XVI. From
March to June XVII. Mrs. Rossiter-Browne XVIII. The Birds which
sang, and the shadows which Fell XIX. What Grey and Jack Did XX.
What The McPhersons Did XXI. What Daisy Did

PART III.

I. In Rome II. Farewell III. Dead IV. Poor Daisy V. Bessie's Decision
VI. In Liverpool VII. On the Ship VIII. Grey and his Aunt IX. Bessie is
Promoted X. Bessie meets her Aunt XI. Miss McPherson's Housemaid
XII. Bessie's Successor XIII. Bessie goes to Grey's Park XIV. Telling
Bessie XV. Wedding Bells XVI. Bessie's Fortune XVII. Old Friends
XVIII. Home again XIX. Joel Rogers' Monument XX. After Five Years

BESSIE'S FORTUNE.

PART I.

CHAPTER I.
THE JERROLDS OF BOSTON.
Mrs. Geraldine Jerrold, of Boston, had in her girlhood been Miss
Geraldine Grey, of Allington, one of those quiet, pretty little towns
which so thickly dot the hills and valleys Of New England. Her father,
who died before her marriage, had been a sea-captain, and a man of
great wealth, and was looked upon as a kind of autocrat, whose opinion
was a law and whose friendship was an honor. When a young lady,
Miss Geraldine had chafed at the stupid town and the stupider people,
as she designated the citizens of Allington, and had only been happy
when the house at Grey's Park was full of guests after the manner of
English houses, where hospitality is dispensed on a larger scale than is
common in America. She had been abroad, and had spent some weeks
in Derbyshire at the Peacock Inn, close to the park of Chatsworth,
which she admired so much that on her return to Allington she never
rested until the five acres of land, in the midst of which her father's
house stood, were improved and fitted up as nearly as possible like the
beautiful grounds across the sea. With good taste and plenty of money,
she succeeded beyond her most sanguine hopes, and Grey's Park was
the pride of the town, and the wonder of the entire county. A kind of
show place it became, and Miss Geraldine was never happier or

prouder than when strangers were going over the grounds or through
the house, which was filled with rare pictures and choice statuary
gathered from all parts of the world, for Captain Grey had brought
something curious and costly from every port at which his vessel
touched, so that the house was like a museum, or, as Miss Geraldine
fancied, like the palaces and castles in Europe, which are shown to
strangers in the absence of the family.
At the age of twenty-two, Miss Geraldine had married Burton Jerrold, a
young man from one of the leading banks in Boston, and whose father,
Peter Jerrold, had, for years, lived on a small farm a mile or more from
the town of Allington. So far as Geraldine knew, the Jerrold blood was
as good as the Grey's, even if old