Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Gardenhurst: A Novel
There is a portrait Of this boy, Gilbert Chesham, hanging up in the drawing-room of the Holme. He was only ten years old when Lely depicted his round, guileless face, and his little hand thrust firmly into that Of his mother, a stately, mild-eyed lady, clothed in the usual draperies of white satin and point lace. Who, in looking at the fearless blue eyes, and the smooth forehead shaded by a profusion of shining curls that tumble Over the lace collar and red doublet, could imagine that twelve years afterwards this angel-faced boy would Shoot himself through the head in a gaming-house, filled by a wild passion Of fury and dismay because he had thrown his last stake and most ancient possession, Garden hurst - and had lost it?
His mother was sitting in her window recess one dusky summer evening when she heard the clattering-hoofs of a horse gallop up to her door. Her dim eyes peered anxiously through the gloom, for her quick maternal instinct divined that some news of her son might be con veyed by this messenger from London; and when her feeble hands tremblingly broke the cover Of the packet that had been sent to her, the first thing her finger touched was a clammy silken curl, which some friend of Gilbert's had hastily severed from the fallen head when it was carried away, hanging heavily over the arm that supported it, with a thick red drop oozing slowly from the forehead.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
