[Transcriber's notes]
Page numbers in this book are indicated by numbers enclosed in curly braces, e.g. {99}. They have been located where page breaks occurred in the original book.
Obvious spelling or typographical errors have been corrected. "Inventive" and contemporary spelling is unchanged. For example, the insertion of a space in contractions is preserved, as in "has n't".
[End transcriber's notes]
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside press Cambridge
1912
COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY CORNELIA A. P. COMER
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Published September 1912
| THE PRELIMINARIES | 1 |
| THE LONG INHERITANCE | 51 |
| CLARISSA'S OWN CHILD | 127 |
{2}
{3}
Young Oliver Pickersgill was in love with Peter Lannithorne'sdaughter. Peter Lannithorne was serving a six-year term in thepenitentiary for embezzlement.
It seemed to Ollie that there was only one right-minded way of lookingat these basal facts of his situation. But this simple view of thematter was destined to receive several shocks in the course of hisnegotiations for Ruth Lannithorne's hand. I say negotiationsadvisedly. Most young men in love have only to secure the consent ofthe girl and find enough money to go to housekeeping. It is quiteotherwise when you wish to marry into a royal {4} family, or to allyyourself with a criminal's daughter. The preliminaries are morecomplicated.
Ollie thought a man ought to marry the girl he loves, and prejudicesbe hanged! In the deeps of his soul, he probably knew this to be themagnanimous, manly attitude, but certainly there was no condescensionin his outward bearing when he asked Ruth Lannithorne to be his wife.Yet she turned on him fiercely, bristling with pride and tense withoverwrought nerves.
"I will never marry any one," she declared, "who does n't respect myfather as I do!"
If Oliver's jaw fell, it is hardly surprising. He had expected her tosay she would never marry into a family where she was not welcome. Hehad planned to get around the natural {5} objections of his parentssomehow--the details of this were vague in his mind--and then hemeant to reassure her warmly, and tell her that personal merit was theonly thing that counted with him or his. He may have visualizedhimself as wiping away her tears and gently raising her to share thesafe social pedestal whereon the Pickersgills were firmly planted. Theyoung do have these visions not infrequently. But to be asked torespect Peter Lannithorne, about whom he knew practically nothing savehis present address!
"I don't remember that I ever saw your father, Ruth," he faltered.
"He was the best man," said the girl excitedly, "the kindest, the mostindulgent--that's another thing, Ollie. I will never marry anindulgent man, nor one who will let his wife manage {6} him. If it hadn't been for mother--" She broke off abruptly.
Oll