Kept in the Dark

Kept in the Dark, by Anthony
Trollope

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Title: Kept in the Dark
Author: Anthony Trollope

Release Date: September 10, 2007 [eBook #22000]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KEPT IN
THE DARK***
E-text prepared by Joseph E. Loewenstein, M.D.

KEPT IN THE DARK

by
ANTHONY TROLLOPE
Originally published in serial form May through December, 1882, in
Good Words and in book form in 1882. Trollope died during the last
month of serial publication.

CONTENTS
VOLUME I.
I. CECILIA HOLT AND HER THREE FRIENDS. II. SIR FRANCIS
GERALDINE. III. THE END OF THAT EPISODE. IV. MR.
WESTERN. V. CECILIA'S SECOND CHANCE. VI. WHAT ALL
HER FRIENDS SAID ABOUT IT. VII. MISS ALTIFIORLA'S
ARRIVAL. VIII. LADY GRANT. IX. MISS ALTIFIORLA'S
DEPARTURE. X. SIR FRANCIS TRAVELS WITH MISS
ALTIFIORLA. XI. MR. WESTERN HEARS THE STORY. XII. MR.
WESTERN'S DECISION.
VOLUME II.
XIII. MRS. WESTERN PREPARES TO LEAVE. XIV. TO WHAT A
PUNISHMENT! XV. ONCE MORE AT EXETER. XVI. "IT IS
ALTOGETHER UNTRUE." XVII. MISS ALTIFIORLA RISES IN
THE WORLD. XVIII. A MAN'S PRIDE. XIX. DICK TAKES HIS
FINAL LEAVE. XX. THE SECRET ESCAPES. XXI. LADY GRANT
AT DRESDEN. XXII. MR. WESTERN YIELDS. XXIII. SIR
FRANCIS' ESCAPE. XIV. CONCLUSION.

VOLUME I.
CHAPTER I.

CECILIA HOLT AND HER THREE FRIENDS.
There came an episode in the life of Cecilia Holt which it is essential
should first be told. When she was twenty-two years old she was living
with her mother at Exeter. Mrs. Holt was a widow with comfortable
means,--ample that is for herself and her daughter to supply them with
all required by provincial comfort and provincial fashion. They had a
house without the city, with a garden and a gardener and two boys, and
they kept a brougham, which was the joint care of the gardener and the
boy inside and the boy outside. They saw their friends and were seen
by them. Once in the year they left home for a couple of months and
went,--wherever the daughter wished. Sometimes there was a week or
two in London; sometimes in Paris or Switzerland. The mother seemed
to be only there to obey the daughter's behests, and Cecilia was the
most affectionate of masters. Nothing could have been less disturbed or
more happy than their lives. No doubt there was present in Cecilia's
manner a certain looking down upon her mother,--of which all the
world was aware, unless it was her mother and herself. The mother was
not blessed by literary tastes, whereas Cecilia was great among French
and German poets. And Cecilia was æsthetic, whereas the mother
thought more of the delicate providing of the table. Cecilia had two or
three female friends, who were not quite her equals in literature but
nearly so. There was Maude Hippesley, the Dean's daughter, and Miss
Altifiorla, the daughter of an Italian father who had settled in Exeter
with her maternal aunt,--in poor circumstances, but with an exalted
opinion as to her own blood. Francesca Altifiorla was older than her
friend, and was, perhaps, the least loved of the three, but the most often
seen. And there was Mrs. Green, the Minor Canon's wife, who had the
advantage of a husband, but was nevertheless humble and retiring.
They formed the élite of Miss Holt's society and were called by their
Christian names. The Italian's name was Francesca and the married
lady was called Bessy.
Cecilia had no lovers till there came in an evil hour to Exeter one Sir
Francis Geraldine. She had somewhat scoffed at love, or at the
necessity of having a lover. She and Miss Altifiorla had been of one
mind on that subject. Maude Hippesley had a lover and could not be

supposed to give her accord. Mrs. Green had had one, but expressed an
opinion that it was a trouble well over. A husband might be a comfort,
but a lover was a "bother." "It's such a blessing to be able to wear my
old gloves before him. He doesn't mind it now as he knows he'll have to
pay for the new." But at length there came the lover. Sir Francis
Geraldine was a man who had property in the county but had not lately
lived upon it. He was of an old family, of which he was very proud. He
was an old baronet, a circumstance which he seemed to think was very
much in his favour. Good heavens! From what a height did