- Fair Mystery
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Charlotte M. Brame
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(Written by Charlotte M. Brame under the pen name Bertha M. Clay.)
Honest Mark Brace is about to lose his farm, land of his ancestors, home to his wife, Patty, and small daughter, Mattie, when out of a dark and stormy night comes the answer to his prayers. A tiny babe, tender and fair, left on their doorstep with a note asking Mark and Patty to bring the child up as their own, to raise it to be good, like themselves, and to accept for their troubles a hundred pounds a year.
The farm is saved, and all is peaceful for a while as the beautiful baby, Doris, grows into an even more beautiful child. But as she grows, so too grows her awareness of her own loveliness, of her difference from the humble farmers who raise her. Doris hungers for luxury, jewels and velvet, bright fetes and ardent admirers. Confident that her ethereal beauty and native wit will bring her everything she deserves, she focuses her energies on obtaining these things and sets in motion a chain of events that will break hearts, rip at the mystery surrounding her birth, and culminate in the greatest tragedy of them all.
A story of love in many forms, A Fair Mystery is part romance, part tragedy, and part social commentary, one which asks us to pause a moment and reflect on what it is that is truly worth having in this life.
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- Chapters
- A Voice and a Face in the Night.
- A Fairy Changeling.
- A Daughter of Patricians.
- The Marble Psyche.
- 'I want to be just like you.'
- Faithless and Debonair.
- All, All is Vanity.
- The Young Coquette.
- Poet and Gentleman.
- A Wasted Warning.
- The Foster-Sisters.
- Beauty Becomes Immortal.
- 'Faithless and debonair.'
- 'I will be true--forever.'
- A Betrothal Day.
- A Shining Memory.
- A Woman Averse to Marriage.
- A Prospective Pleasure for Doris.
- 'They tell me, child, that you are really promised in marriage.'
- Her Eyes Invited Him.
- 'I shall never be a model woman.'
- The Coquette and the Man of the World.
- An Impassioned Wooing.
- The False Lips of Woman.
- The Last Happy Day of His Life.
- How She was Tempted.
- A Woman Resolved.
- The Flight at Midnight.
- A Thorn in the Garden of Roses.
- 'I could sooner plunge a dagger in his heart.'
- 'I am a man, and I will have justice.'
- There is no True Love Except the Love of a Mother.
- 'After so many years of dread has it come at last?'
- 'I must tell you my secret.'
- Lady Estelle's Story.
- 'He made me believe that I was the whole world to him!'
- The Punishment of Folly.
- A Mother's Confession.
- A Clew at Last.
- 'I claim you as my own; I will never release you!'
- 'This is your revenge--to humiliate me.'
- The Coquette's Blandishments.
- The Nobleman's Oath.
- An Appeal for Forgiveness.
- A Thunderbolt in a Ducal Palace.
- The Duke's Plan.
- An Important Letter.
- 'Welcome, my daughter, to your father's heart.'
- 'Only one other person knows my secret.'
- A Nobleman's Generosity.
- 'Be kind to her, as though you were her own child.'
- A Young Lady Pleasantly Occupied.
- 'I must bear it for his sake.'
- 'My queen rose of the rosebuds.'
- 'When she was young, perhaps she loved some one like me.'
- The Yearnings of a Mother's Heart.
- Before the Queen.
- The New Beauty Discussed.
- Doris Affects a Little Curiosity.
- 'I might have been so happy, but for this!'
- 'I have seen some one like her.'
- Lord Vivianne Perplexed.
- A Terrible Trial.
- 'If she refuses, let her beware!'
- A Little Artifice.
- A Quiet Wedding Advocated.
- A Clew at Last.
- Lord Vivianne Proposes a Little Discussion.
- The Price of a Secret.
- The Coward's Threat.
- The Earl Reluctantly Assents.
- The Countess Becomes Curious.
- A Last Vain Appeal.
- 'Heaven save Earle!'
- 'I shall wake up and find it a dream.'
- Trying on the Wedding-Dress.
- A Midnight Visitor.
- Why He Suspected.
- What Happened After Midnight.
- The Silent Bride.
- How the News was Told.
- The Captain Asks Strange Questions.
- A Mother's Anguish.
- A Surprise for Lord Linleigh.
- Haunted by a Dead Face.
- Silent Love Rewarded.
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