A Disputed Inheritance Author:Thomas Hood Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. OF MARRIAGE AND OLD MORSE. When the breakfast party broke up at Tresellan, on the morning when my story begins, Denzil slipped away, purposely... more » evading the eyes of Emma. He got into a boat and pulled up the Perl until he came to an old summer-house, called the " Lady's Tryst," which commanded a noble view of the junction of the Glese with the Perl. Here he landed, and struck across country, skirting the oak-woods. At length he turned back again towards the river, and, descending by a narrow bridle-path, came to a cottage, which, though close by the water-side, was as completely concealed from the view of any one on the Perl, as if it had been surrounded by a wall of mountain. Now, I quite agree with the reader that it looks very suspicious to see a young man dodging about like this, and at last running to earth in a secret hut. So we shall not be surprised, on entering the room, close at his heels, to see my gentleman submitting to the caresses of a good-looking woman, who has a gold ring on the third finger of her left hand, and who calls him " Bud " Yes, Denzil was secretly married ! His wife was a tall, spare, but still (as I described her) good-looking woman. I should say there must have been ten years' difference in their ages—and the difference was on the wrong side. 'Martha Tresellan had deep lines about her eyes that told of old troubles, and there was a nervous action about her mouth which did not wear a very sweet smile, though a smile it did wear. It seemed as though her lips scorned themselves for the hypocrisy of it. Cannot you easily see when a woman loves a man ? Her looks, though they do not, perhaps, dwell long, yet say and read much. She almost imperceptibly leans on him, and seems dependent, knowing that by so doing she mak...« less