His Grace of Osmonde

His Grace of Osmonde

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Title: His Grace of Osmonde Being the Portions of That Nobleman's
Life Omitted in the Relation of His Lady's Story Presented to the World
of Fashion under the Title of A Lady of Quality
Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett
Release Date: April 18, 2005 [EBook #15651]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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GRACE OF OSMONDE ***

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HIS GRACE OF OSMONDE
[Illustration: "'From this night all men shall kneel--all men on whom I
deign to cast my eyes'"--See p 187]

HIS GRACE OF OSMONDE
BEING THE PORTIONS OF THAT NOBLEMAN'S LIFE OMITTED

IN THE RELATION OF HIS LADY'S STORY PRESENTED TO
THE WORLD OF FASHION UNDER THE TITLE OF A LADY OF
QUALITY
BY
FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1914

1897, BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

_Were Nature just to Man from his first hour, he need not ask for
Mercy; then 'tis for us--the toys of Nature--to be both just and merciful,
for so only can the wrongs she does be undone_.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE FIFTH DAY OF APRIL, 1676 1
II. "HE IS THE KING" 13
III. SIR JEOFFRY WILDAIRS 26
IV. "GOD HAVE MERCY ON ITS EVIL FORTUNES" 35
V. MY LORD MARQUESS PLUNGES INTO THE THAMES 55
VI. "NO; SHE HAS NOT YET COME TO COURT" 65
VII. "'TIS CLO WILDAIRS, MAN--ALL THE COUNTY KNOWS
THE VIXEN" 77
VIII. IN WHICH MY LADY BETTY TANTILLION WRITES OF A
SCANDAL 92
IX. SIR JOHN OXON LAYS A WAGER AT CRIBB'S COFFEE
HOUSE 107

X. MY LORD MARQUESS RIDES TO CAMYLOTT 119
XI. "IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN--IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN!" 133
XII. IN WHICH IS SOLD A PORTRAIT 141
XIII. "YOUR--GRACE!" 158
XIV. "FOR ALL HER YOUTH--THERE IS NO OTHER WOMAN
LIKE HER" 179
XV. "AND 'TWAS THE TOWN RAKE AND BEAUTY--SIR JOHN
OXON" 190
XVI. A RUMOUR 197
XVII. AS HUGH DE MERTOUN RODE 217
XVIII. A NIGHT IN WHICH MY LORD DUKE DID NOT SLEEP
235
XIX. "THEN YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN ONE OF THOSE--" 248
XX. AT CAMYLOTT 261
XXI. UPON THE MOOR 274
XXII. MY LADY DUNSTANWOLDE IS WIDOWED 299
XXIII. HER LADYSHIP RETURNS TO TOWN 319
XXIV. SIR JOHN OXON RETURNS ALSO 337
XXV. TO-MORROW 351
XXVI. A DEAD ROSE 363
XXVII. "'TWAS THE NIGHT THOU HIDST THE PACKAGE IN
THE WALL" 381

XXVIII. SIR JOHN RIDES OUT OF TOWN 394
XXIX. AT THE COW AT WICKBEN 405
XXX. ON TYBURN HILL 423
XXXI. THEIR GRACES KEEP THEIR WEDDING DAY AT
CAMYLOTT 440
XXXII. IN THE TURRET CHAMBER--AND IN CAMYLOTT
WOOD 457

ILLUSTRATIONS
"'From this night all men shall kneel--all men on whom I deign to cast
my eyes'" Frontispiece FACING PAGE "Your Grace, it is this lady
who is to do me the great honour of becoming my Lady Dunstanwolde"
232

HIS GRACE OF OSMONDE

CHAPTER I
_The Fifth Day of April, 1676_
Upon the village of Camylott there had rested since the earliest peep of
dawn a hush of affectionate and anxious expectancy, the very
plough-boys going about their labours without boisterous laughter, the
children playing quietly, and the good wives in their kitchens and
dairies bustling less than usual and modulating the sharpness of their
voices, the most motherly among them in truth finding themselves
falling into whispering as they gossiped of the great subject of the hour.
"The swallows were but just beginning to stir and twitter in their nests
under the eaves when I heard the horses' hoofs a-clatter on the high
road," said Dame Watt to her neighbour as they stood in close confab in
her small front garden. "Lord's mercy! though I have lain down
expecting it every night for a week, the heart of me leapt up in my
throat and I jounced Gregory with a thump in his back to wake him

from his snoring. 'Gregory,' cries I, ''tis sure begun. God be kind to her
young Grace this day. There goes a messenger clattering over the road.
Hearken to his horse's feet.'"
Dame Bush, her neighbour, being the good mother of fourteen stalwart
boys and girls, heaved a lusty sigh, the sound of which was a thing
suggesting much experience and fellow-feeling even with noble ladies
at such times.
"There is not a woman's heart in Camylott village,"