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Vashti; Or Until Death Us Do Part: A Novel
Vashti Or Until Death Us Do Part A Novel Author:Augusta J. Evans 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: PREFACE. " Every man has his own style, as he has his own nose j and it ii neither polite nor Christian to rally an honest man about his nose, however singula... more »r it may be. How can I help it that my style is not different? That there is no affectation in it, I am very certain." Letting. "Yea, I take myself to witness, That I have loved no darkness, Sophisticated no truth, Nursed no delusion, Allowed no fear." Matthew Arnold. UNTIL DEATH US DO PART. CHAPTER I. CAN hear the sullen, savage roar of the breakers, if I do not see them, and my pretty painted bark expectation is bearing down helplessly upon them. Perhaps the unwelcome will not come to-day. What then ? I presume I should not care; and yet, I am curious to see him, anxious to know what sort of person will henceforth rule the house, and go in and out here as master. Of course the pleasant, peaceful days are at an end, for men always make din and strife in a household, at least my father did, and he is the only one I know much about. But, after all, why borrow trouble ? the interloper may never come." The girl stood on tiptoe, shading her eyes with one hand, and peering eagerly down the winding road which stretched at right angles to the avenue, and over the hills, on towards the neighboring town. No moving speck was visible; and, with a sigh of relief, she sank back on the grassy mound and resumed the perusal of her book. Above and around her spread the wide branches of an aged apple-tree, feathered thickly with pearly petals, which the wind tossed hither and thither and drifted over the bcrmuda, as restless tides strew pink-chambered shells on sloping strands; and down through the flowery limbs streamed the waning March sun, throwing grotesque shadows on the sward and golden ripples ov...« less