The Project Gutenberg EBook of Melbourne House, Volume 1, by Susan Warner

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: Melbourne House, Volume 1

Author: Susan Warner

Release Date: July 20, 2004 [EBook #12963]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MELBOURNE HOUSE, VOLUME 1 ***

Produced by Karen Lofstrom and PG Distributed Proofreaders

MELBOURNE HOUSE.

[Illustration: THE OLD IRISH TOMB.]

Melbourne House, Vol. I.

MELBOURNE HOUSE.

BY THE
AUTHOR OF THE "WIDE, WIDE WORLD."

"Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and
whether it be right."--PROV. XX. 11.

VOL. I.

NEW YORK:
ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS,
530 BROADWAY.
1865.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by

ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Southern District of New York.

Stereotyped by SMITH & MCDOUGAL, 82 & 84 Beekman St.

Printed by E.O. JENKINS, 20 North William St.

[Transcriber's note: This edition of the novel was badly typeset in
places. Many small errors--missing periods, missing apostrophes, missing
closing quotes--have been corrected for reading ease. When the author
spelled a word as 'ankle' nine times and 'ancle' twice, occurrences of
'ancle' have been corrected to 'ankle'--and so forth. Other errors,
such as the persistent misspelling of 'visitor' as 'visiter', have been
left, as these are more likely to represent the author's convictions as
to spelling.]

MELBOURNE HOUSE.

CHAPTER I.

A little girl was coming down a flight of stairs that led up from a
great hall, slowly letting her feet pause on each stair, while the light
touch of her hand on the rail guided her. The very thoughtful little
face seemed to be intent on something out of the house, and when she
reached the bottom, she still stood with her hand on the great baluster
that rested on the marble there, and looked wistfully out of the open
door. So the sunlight came in and looked at her; a little figure in a
white frock and blue sash, with the hair cut short all over a little
round head, and a face not only just now full of some grave concern,