Fellow Travellers, Or, the Experience of Life, by the Author of 'Margaret; Or, Prejudice at Home'.3 Vols (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. 1858 Excerpt: ...looked upon as his heir. And not without reason, for he himself proclaimed everywhere that I was his heir; and he made his will, and allowed me to see it; and allowed my mother to witness its execution, with eyes dimmed by proud and happy tears. Having done this, he had done all that he could do; and cloud, and darkness, and storm followed the brief sunshine. "Mr. Vernon was unmistakeably a hard, penurious man, who could part with nothing during his lifetime; I was as unmistakeably a selfish man. of luxurious habits, and we inevitably clashed. He might be about fifty years old when I became of age, and he lived till I was upwards of sixty. In the interval of course my mother died; everything died to me in that interval, except Mary's love. That latter did sustain me in some measure, but its power was not sufficient to raise such a mere mass of earthiness as I then was. It was proposed to me to attempt bettering my condition with such means as I was supposed to possess--means squandered, anticipated long ago. Mary wished me to enter one of the professions; she was willing to share any fate with me; but I was not prepared to encounter difficulty for her sake. We went on in our different ways, and in the course of hers Mary at length made a stand. When near her thirtieth year she became maid of honour to the queen (Queen Charlotte), and she determined then that for the future we should be no more than friends. She voluntarily released me from all obligation, and I, self-willed as ever, would not be so released. I rebelled against tbis inclination to give me up, though I had virtually given her up long ago. The extremity proved to me that I could not live out of the atmosphere of Mary's love. I had always been a hanger-on about court, and this inclination ...