Esther Wynne (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1885. Excerpt: ... the party; but, as it proved, neither my uncle nor my aunt concerned themselves about their proposed companions. We sat in the gloaming till it was almost dark, Grannie, Aunt Joanna, and I, and we were debating whether we should commence supper, when the wanderers returned. "Did you lose yourselves? Do you know it is past ten o'clock?" asked Aunt Joanna, who had just taken her seat at the lighted table. "What have you been doing with yourselves, children?" pursued Grannie, looking attentively at the pair, who apparently had very little to say for themselves. "We had no idea it was so late," stammered Aunt Dorothy. "I do hope you have not been waiting supper?" exclaimed Uncle Harry, "for Dorothy and I have been so much occupied with our own affairs that I am afraid we had no thought of time, nor of our patient friends at home. Mother, Miss Wynterthorpe, Esther; Dorothy and I are engaged to be married " CHAPTER XLIII. PERPLEXED AND STARTLED. "We need not bid for cloister'd cell, Our neighbour and our work farewell; Nor strive to wind ourselves too high, For sinful man beneath the sky." I WAS not so very much astonished; it had occurred to me, even before we left Southampton, that a very suitable match might be concluded between Uncle Harry and Aunt Dorothy. That he admired her extremely there could be no doubt, but whether she at all cared for him was more than I could determine; and if she did, what would be the consequences? Would Aunt Joanna ever consent to sanction the unprecedented union? Would she allow her younger sister to take her own fate in her own hands, and diverge from the beaten track after so many years of careful supervision? But one glance at Aunt Dorothy's blushing happy face was quite enough: it needed but small discrimination to determi...