Great Possessions

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Great Possessions

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Great Possessions, by Mrs. Wilfrid Ward
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Title: Great Possessions
Author: Mrs. Wilfrid Ward

Release Date: March 8, 2006 [eBook #17952]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT POSSESSIONS***
E-text prepared by Joseph R. Hauser, Martin Pettit, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net/)

GREAT POSSESSIONS
by
MRS. WILFRID WARD
Author of "One Poor Scruple," "Out of Due Time," etc.

G. P. Putnam's Sons New York and London The Knickerbocker Press 1909 Copyright, 1909 by G. P. Putnam's Sons The Knickerbocker Press, New York

CONTENTS
BOOK I
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE AMAZING WILL 1
II. IN THE EVENING 13
III. "AS YOU HOPE TO BE FORGIVEN" 21
IV. THE WICKED WOMAN IN FLORENCE 32
V. "YOUR MOTHER'S DAUGHTER" 42
VI. MOLLY COMES OF AGE 55
VII. EDMUND GROSSE CONTINUES TO INTERFERE 68
VIII. AT GROOMBRIDGE CASTLE 78
IX. A LITTLE MORE THAN KIND 91
X. THE PET VICE 98
XI. THE THIN END OF A CLUE 109
XII. MOLLY'S NIGHT-WATCH 120
XIII. SIR DAVID'S MEMORY 126
BOOK II
XIV. MOLLY IN THE SEASON 136
XV. A POOR MAN'S DEATH 151
XVI. MOLLY'S LETTER TO HER MOTHER 165
XVII. THE BLIND CANON 173
XVIII. MADAME DANTERRE'S ANSWER 180
XIX. LADY ROSE'S SCRUPLE 187
XX. THE HEIRESS OF MADAME DANTERRE 194
BOOK III
XXI. AN INTERLUDE OF HAPPINESS 213
XXII. SOMETHING LIKE EVIDENCE 220
XXIII. THE USES OF DELIRIUM 231
XXIV. MRS. DELAPORT GREEN IN THE ASCENDANT 238
XXV. MOLLY AT COURT 243
XXVI. EDMUND IS NO LONGER BORED 249
XXVII. MOLLY'S APPEAL 256
XXVIII. DINNER AT TWO SHILLINGS 266
XXIX. THE RELIEF OF SPEECH 272
XXX. THE BIRTH OF A SLANDER 280
XXXI. THE NURSING OF A SLANDER 285
BOOK IV
XXXII. ROSE SUMMONED TO LONDON 294
XXXIII. BROWN HOLLAND COVERS 304
XXXIV. THE WRATH OF A FRIEND 312
XXXV. THE CONDEMNATION OF MARK 322
XXXVI. MENE THEKEL PHARES 330
XXXVII. MARK ENTERS INTO TEMPTATION 339
XXXVIII. NO SHADOW OF A CLOUD 350
XXXIX. "WITHOUT CONDITION OR COMPROMISE" 357

GREAT POSSESSIONS

BOOK I
CHAPTER I
THE AMAZING WILL
The memorial service for Sir David Bright was largely attended. Perhaps he was fortunate in the moment of his death, for other men, whose military reputations had been as high as his, were to go on with the struggle while the world wondered at their blunders. It was only the second of those memorial services for prominent men which were to become so terribly usual as the winter wore on. Great was the sympathy felt for the young widow at the loss of one so brave, so kindly, so popular among all classes.
Lady Rose Bright was quite young and very fair. She did not put on a widow's distinctive garments because Sir David had told her that he hated weeds. But she wore a plain, heavy cloak, and a long veil fell into the folds made by her skirts. The raiment of a gothic angel, an angel like those in the portico at Rheims, has these same straight, stern lines. "Black is sometimes as suggestive of white," was the reflection of one member of the congregation, "as white may be suggestive of mourning." Sir Edmund Grosse, who had known Rose from her childhood, felt some new revelation in her movements; there was a fuller development of womanhood in her walk, and there was a reserve, too, as of one consecrated and set apart. He heaved a deep sigh as she passed near him going down the church, and their eyes met. She had no shrinking in her bearing; her reserves were too deep for her to avoid an open meeting with other human eyes. She looked at Sir Edmund for a moment as if giving, rather than demanding, sympathy; and indeed, there was more trouble in his eyes than in hers.
The service had gone perilously near to Roman practices. It was among the first of those uncontrollable instinctive expressions of faith in prayer for the departed which were a marked note of English feeling during the Boer war. Questions as to their legality were asked in Parliament, but little heeded, for the heart of the nation, "for her children mourning," sought comfort in the prayers used by the rest of the Christian world.
Rose's mother went home with her and they talked, very simply and in sympathy, of the tributes to the soldier's memory. Then, when luncheon came and the servants were present, they spoke quietly of the work to be done for soldiers' wives and of a meeting the mother was to attend that afternoon. Lady Charlton was the mother one would expect Rose to have--indeed, such complete grace of courtliness and kindness points to an education. Afterwards, while they were alone, Lady Charlton, in broken sentences, sketched the future. She supposed Rose would stay on although the house was too big. Much good might be done in it. There