Toinette; A novel

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1875 Excerpt: ...that could remind her of the days which she spent near him, as his prospective wife. It had been a time of unexampled stir and industry both on the plantation and at the Lodge, and everywhere the coarse heavy shoes and linsey gown of Betty Certain were seen, and her firm voice and keen eye directed all things. The neighboring planters looked on in amazement, and said to one another that Betty Certain was showing the same vigor and energy that made her great-grandfather Ezra the right-hand of the Earl upon his vast estates in the Carolinas. But the preparations were finally completed, and to-morrow Betty Certain intended to leave her mother's cottage for Lovett Lodge. She wondered, as she passed along the wood-path toward her old home, if she would ever go back to it again to live. Her head was bent forward, and her hands were clasped loosely behind her as she walked on with a heavy, deliberate stride, like a man lo.:t in thought. The sun had set, and the wood-path was growing dark to unaccustomed eyes; but she kept on with the confidence of familiarity, avoiding rocks, roots and branches without thought of their existence. She was not a lovely woman, and certainly not a weak one. Fate had made her a strange compound. Under different circumstances she might have graced a throne and rivaled the proudest names in history. She could do and dare without faltering; she could suffer without complaining, and love without return. There was one thing she had never yet done--forgive. Was she capable of forgiving a great, an unforgotten wrong? Her soul was above flattery, the lust of wealth, or the desire of ease. Was it also above revenge? This night was to decide. The crucial test was to be applied before the moon, now just rising, should sink beneath the horizon. St...