John Alston's Vow (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.1865 Excerpt: ... mence, yet trustful. He felt that somehow she would be guarded if he must suffer. From that hour peace stole into his heart, and Eva was to him another man's wife, and like his nation, he turned to grapple with his fate in life, and to take what good remained to be met with in his path. The morrow found him another man, his back was turned on the past, --he was preparing, with little show of apathy, for the party. The gigantic sorrow of the day before was like a hideous dream, upon which he had resolutely turned his back. It seemed to have retreated into the far distant past, while he valiantly faced the day, and the work it was to bring forth for him--we say work, for who, in ostensible pleasure, has not occasionally found the hardest work of their lives?--the work of acting a part assigned to us by irresistible circumstances, of subduing our strongest wills, of annihilating in some instances, our natural selves, and re-creating, so to speak, another nature within us, and bringing it into harmony with our surroundings? It was the "pluck," and the "bottom," and the "coolness" of his character, which, in lighter days, had been his boast, which now came to his aid. It was the world around and before him he must now think of, he never could look behind on the past. The merry voices of the whole family were to be heard betimes the following morning, in various quarters of the house, all talking of, or preparing for, the day's enjoyment. Money does not exempt Australian ladies from household duties, and when a party is in anticipation, every pair of hands to be had, is in requisition. On this occasion, the day before had been devoted to the concoction of jellies, creams, or pastry; to the roasting of fowls, lamb, and other meats, so that Victor's absence had been...