The Vicissitudes of Bessie Fairfax

A free download from http://www.dertz.in


The Vicissitudes of Bessie Fairfax

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Vicissitudes of Bessie Fairfax
by Holme Lee and Harriet Parr This eBook is for the use of anyone
anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You
may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project
Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
www.gutenberg.net
Title: The Vicissitudes of Bessie Fairfax
Author: Holme Lee and Harriet Parr
Release Date: November 17, 2005 [EBook #17086]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
VICISSITUDES OF BESSIE FAIRFAX ***

Produced by Bruce Albrecht, Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

THE VICISSITUDES OF BESSIE FAIRFAX.

A NOVEL.
BY
HOLME LEE
(MISS HARRIET PARR),
AUTHOR OF "SYLVAN HOLT'S DAUGHTER," "KATHIE
BRAND," ETC.
"Not what we could wish, but what we must even put up with."
PHILADELPHIA:
PORTER & COATES.

CONTENTS.
CHAP. PAGE
I. HER BIRTH AND PARENTAGE 5 II. THE LAWYER'S LETTER
10 III. THE COMMUNITY OF BEECHHURST 15 IV. A RIDE WITH
THE DOCTOR 29 V. GREAT-ASH FORD 37 VI. AGAINST HER
INCLINATION 46 VII. HER FATE IS SEALED 59 VIII. BESSIE'S
FRIENDS AT BROOK 65 IX. FAREWELL TO THE FOREST 77 X.
BESSIE GOES INTO EXILE 80 XI. SCHOOL-DAYS AT CAEN 89
XII. IN COURSE OF TIME 98 XIII. BESSIE LEARNS A FAMILY
SECRET 112 XIV. ON BOARD THE "FOAM" 117 XV. A LITTLE
CHAPTER BY THE WAY 124 XVI. A LOST OPPORTUNITY 127
XVII. BESSIE'S BRINGING HOME 135 XVIII. THE NEXT
MORNING 145 XIX. NEIGHBORS TO ABBOTSMEAD 152 XX.
PAST AND PRESENT 160 XXI. A DISCOVERY 170 XXII.
PRELIMINARIES 177 XXIII. BESSIE SHOWS CHARACTER 188
XXIV. A QUIET POLICY 194 XXV. A DINNER AT BRENTWOOD
198 XXVI. A MORNING AT BRENTWOOD 209 XXVII. SOME
DOUBTS AND FEARS 216 XXVIII. IN MINSTER COURT 223

XXIX. LADY LATIMER IN WOLDSHIRE 228 XXX. MY LADY
REVISITS OLD SCENES 235 XXXI. A SUCCESS AND A
REPULSE 241 XXXII. A HARD STRUGGLE 254 XXXIII. A VISIT
TO CASTLEMOUNT 256 XXXIV. BESSIE'S PEACEMAKING 266
XXXV. ABBOTSMEAD IN SHADOW 273 XXXVI. DIPLOMATIC
282 XXXVII. SUNDAY MORNING AT BEECHHURST 285
XXXVIII. SUNDAY EVENING AT BROOK 294 XXXIX. AT
FAIRFIELD 305 XL. ANOTHER RIDE WITH THE DOCTOR 311
XLI. FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES 318 XLII. HOW
FRIENDS MAY FALL OUT 323 XLIII. BETWEEN THEMSELVES
328 XLIV. A LONG DULL DAY 336 XLV. THE SQUIRE'S WILL
343 XLVI. TENDER AND TRUE 349 XLVII. GOODNESS
PREVAILS 360 XLVIII. CERTAIN OPINIONS 365 XLIX. BESSIE'S
LAST RIDE WITH THE DOCTOR 372 L. FOR BETTER, FOR
WORSE 381

THE VICISSITUDES OF BESSIE FAIRFAX.
CHAPTER I.
_HER BIRTH AND PARENTAGE._
The years have come and gone at Beechhurst as elsewhere, but the
results of time and change seem to have almost passed it by. Every way
out of the scattered forest-town is still through beautiful
forest-roads--roads that cleave grand avenues, traverse black barren
heaths, ford shallow rivers, and climb over ferny knolls whence the sea
is visible. The church is unrestored, the parsonage is unimproved, the
long low house opposite is still the residence of Mr. Carnegie, the local
doctor, and looks this splendid summer morning precisely as it looked
in the splendid summer mornings long ago, when Bessie Fairfax was a
little girl, and lived there, and was very happy.
Bessie was not akin to the doctor. Her birth and parentage were on this
wise. Her father was Geoffry, the third and youngest son of Mr. Fairfax
of Abbotsmead in Woldshire. Her mother was Elizabeth, only child of

the Reverend Thomas Bulmer, vicar of Kirkham. Their marriage was a
love-match, concluded when they had something less than the
experience of forty years between them. The gentleman had his
university debts besides to begin life with, the lady had nothing. As the
shortest way to a living he went into the Church, and the birth of their
daughter was contemporary with Geoffry's ordination. His
father-in-law gave him a title for orders, and a lodging under his roof,
and Mr. Fairfax grudgingly allowed his son two hundred a year for a
maintenance.
The young couple were lively and handsome. They had done a foolish
thing, but their friends agreed to condone their folly. Before very long a
south-country benefice, the rectory of Beechhurst, was put in Geoffry's
way, and he gayly removed with his wife and child to that desirable
home of their own. They were poor, but they were perfectly contented.
Nature is sometimes very kind in making up to people for the want of
fortune by an excellent gift of good spirits and good courage. She was
very kind in this way to Geoffry Fairfax and his wife Elizabeth; so kind