The Lovels of Arden

THE

LOVELS OF ARDEN

BY THE AUTHOR OF

"LADY AUDLEY'S SECRET," "AURORA FLOYD," "VIXEN," "ISHMAEL," ETC., ETC.,
ETC.

CHEAP UNIFORM EDITION OF MISS BRADDON'S NOVELS.

_Price 2s. picture boards; 2s. 6d. cloth gilt; 3s. 6d. half parchment or
half morocco; postage 4d._

MISS BRADDON'S NOVELS

INCLUDING

"LADY AUDLEY'S SECRET," "VIXEN," "ISHMAEL," ETC.

"No one can be dull who has a novel by Miss Braddon in hand. The most
tiresome journey is beguiled, and the most wearisome illness is brightened,
by any one of her books."

"Miss Braddon is the Queen of the circulating libraries."--_The World._

N. B.--There are now 43 Novels always in print. For full list see back of
cover, or apply for a Catalogue, to be sent (post free).




CONTENTS

CHAP.

I. COMING HOME
II. BEGINNING THE WORLD
III. FATHER AND DAUGHTER
IV. CLARISSA IS "TAKEN UP"
V. AT HALE CASTLE
VI. AND THIS IS GEORGE FAIRFAX
VII. DANGEROUS GROUND
VIII. SMOULDERING FIRES
IX. LADY LAURA DIPLOMATISES
X. LADY LAURA'S PREPARATIONS
XI. DANIEL GRANGER
XII. MR. GRANGER IS INTERESTED
XIII. OPEN TREASON
XIV. THE MORNING AFTER
XV. CHIEFLY PATERNAL
XVI. LORD CHALDERWOOD IS THE CAUSE OF INCONVENIENCE
XVII. "'TIS DEEPEST WINTER IN LORD TIMON'S PURSE"
XVIII. SOMETHING FATAL
XIX. MR. GRANGER IS PRECIPITATE
XX. MODEL VILLAGERS
XXI. VERY FAR GONE
XXII. TAKING THE PLEDGE
XXIII. "HE'S SWEETEST FRIEND, OR HARDEST FOE"
XXIV. "IT MEANS ARDEN COURT"
XXV. WEDDING BELLS
XXVI. COMING HOME
XXVII. IN THE SEASON
XXVIII. MR. WOOSTER
XXIX. "IF I SHOULD MEET THEE--"
XXX. THE HEIR OF ARDEN
XXXI. THE NEAREST WAY TO CARLSRUHE
XXXII. AUSTIN
XXXIII. ONLY A PORTRAIT-PAINTER
XXXIV. AUSTIN'S PROSPECTS
XXXV. SISTERS-IN-LAW
XXXVI. "AND THROUGH THE LIFE HAVE I NOT WRIT MY NAME?"
XXXVII. STOLEN HOURS
XXXVIII. "FROM CLARISSA"
XXXIX. THAT IS WHAT LOVE MEANS
XL. LYING IN WAIT
XLI. MR. GRANGER'S WELCOME HOME
XLII. CAUGHT IN A TRAP
XLIII. CLARISSA'S ELOPEMENT
XLIV. UNDER THE SHADOW OF ST. GUDULE
XLV. TEMPTATION
XLVI. ON THE WING
XLVII. IN TIME OF NEED
XLVIII. "STRANGERS YET"
XLIX. BEGINNING AGAIN
L. HOW SUCH THINGS END




CHAPTER I.

COMING HOME.


The lamps of the Great Northern Terminus at King's Cross had not long been
lighted, when a cab deposited a young lady and her luggage at the departure
platform. It was an October twilight, cold and gray, and the place had
a cheerless and dismal aspect to that solitary young traveller, to whom
English life and an English atmosphere were somewhat strange.

She had been seven years abroad, in a school near Paris; rather an
expensive seminary, where the number of pupils was limited, the masters and
mistresses, learned in divers modern accomplishments, numerous, and the
dietary of foreign slops and messes without stint.

Dull and gray as the English sky seemed to her, and dreary as was the
aspect of London in October, this girl was glad to return to her native
land. She had felt herself very lonely in the French school, forgotten and
deserted by her own kindred, a creature to be pitied; and hers was a nature
to which pity was a torture. Other girls had gone home to England for their
holidays; but vacation after vacation went by, and every occasion brought
Clarissa Lovel the same coldly worded letter from her father, telling her
that it was not convenient for him to receive her at home, that he had
heard with pleasure of her progress, and that experienced people with whom
he had conferred, had agreed with him that any interruption to the regular
course of her studies could not fail to be a disadvantage to her in the
future.

"They are all going home except me, papa," she wrote piteously on one
occasion, "and I feel as if I were different from them, somehow. Do let
me come home to Arden for this one year.