The Trials of Love: or, Woman's Reward

Front matter

No. 1. PRICE ONLY ONE PENNY. BY THE AUTHORESS €? "THE GIPSEY GIRL." Each PENNY NUMBEE of this Novel will contain Sixteen Pages of solid print. THE TRIALS OF LOVE: OR, WOMAN'S REWARD; BY Mrs. H. M. LOWNDES, (late HANNAH MARIA JONES) author;: ' EMILY MORELANK,' ROSALINE WOCMRIPOE,' ' GIPSEY MOTHER,' ' SCOTTISH CHIEFTAINS," ' FORGED NOTE.' ' WEDDING RING,' ' STRANGERS OF THE GLE"v',' VICTIM CF FASHION,' * CHILD OF MYSTSKr ; &.C. Youth, where is thine open brow ? What has queil'd thine eagle eye ? Where the freshness of thy cheek ? And thy dark hair's raven dye ? Where's thy crimson banner now ? Where's thine eager step and sword ? Where's thine hour of dreamless sleep ? Where frank jest and careless word ? Gone, gone — they all are gone. IMaiden, lovelier than the spring, Is thy bloom departed too ?

I Has thy cheek forgot its rose, Or thine eye its April blue ? Where are thy sweet bursts of song ? Where the wreaths that bound thy hair ? Where the thousand prisoner curls ? Gone, gone — they all are gone. Tliis Novel is one of surpassing skill and beauty, and the distin auished Authoress is allowed on every side to have exceeded all her former efforts, and to have produced a Tale, which, in the deep and untiring interest excited in the reader's mind, equals, if it do not sur pass, any otlter in the English Language. A perusal of the first Number will sliow that this is nn mofe than just praise. LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE PROPRIETORS. BT M'GOWAN AND CO.. GREAT "WINDMILL STREET.']/ Notices of the Press on Mr. Jones's previous Works. THE WOOD SPIRIT. " In every page of the volumes before us may be discovered some fresh, vigorous, poetical conceptions. . . .

It is a production which reflects the highest credit upon the author, and we cannot but express a hope that he will shortly give to the world another of these legendary tales, in the construction of which he has proved himself so much an adept."— Morning Post, May 1th. " In reading The Wood Spirit, we would, were it possible, gladly seize the author's pen to paint its merits, and shadow forth its excellences in his own poetic language. . . We turn to such a work as The Wood Spirit with sensations somewhat similar to those of the weary travellers of the desert, when they approach those springs from which they draw renovated life and vigour to continue their course — it refreshes us, for it tells us the spirit of poetry still exists, and that the harp of Ossian though long silent, will still respond to the touch of feeling. . . .

Chapter I

She lay upon her " humble" bed, Her golden tresses round her shed, Her eyelids dropp'd, her lips apart, As if still sighing forth her heart; But cold and white, as life look'd never, For life had left that face for ever. On her bosom lay a child, Flush'd with sleep, wherein it smiled; Sleep of birth, and sleep of death, Icy cheek and warm young breath. Rosy babe and clay-white mother, Stilly laid by one another. Mrs. Ogilvy. " I know nothing about her, sir, but that she took the lodgings last Thursday was a week, and, as she said she was a stranger in London, and couldn't give me no reference, she paid down a month's rent. I'm sure if I'd have known the trouble I was going to be brought into about her, I wouldn't have taken her in for double the money she paid me." "But you must surely have learned something of her situation in life, or connexions," replied the person to whom this was addressed.

" Not a bit of it, sir ; she told me that her husband was abroad, and that she expected he would be home before she would be confined," was the answer; " but, TRIAL. OF LOVIJ J goodness knows — I suppose that was like all the rest, all bamboozle, just to keep me from asking questions, though, somehow, she was one that you couldn't make free with to ask questions." "She was as proud as Lucifer, I know that," observed another and younger female, who, from the likeness between them, could easily be recognised as the daughter of the last speaker, the landlady of the house. " I always guessed she was no better than she should be," continued the young woman, " and I warned mother that she would be getting herself into a hobble if anything happened to the fine stuck-up ma'am who seemed to look down upon me as if I was no better than the dirt under her feet."

"Now, don't say so, Mary Anne," resumed the mother. " She was close certainly, and seemed to shun all company to be sure, and to wish to keep her self to herself, but a gentler, kinder, quieter creature never came into a house, nor one that gave less trouble, though it was plain that she had been brought up quite the lady and not used to our plain humble ways, nor" — " Lady, indeed," retorted Miss Mary Anne, tossing her head, " very ladylike it was to be sure to bring her poverty and disgrace into a respectable house and leave us to pay the piper, as its plain we must if nobody comes forward to own her, and that's not very likely seeing that not a soul has ever called upon her since she's been in this house ; and you dont even know what part of the world she came from when she found her way here.

It will be a pretty thing for you to have to pay for her funeral, and then the child — what is to be done with that, I should like to know ?" " Nonsense, you're out of your mind to talk so, Mary OR, WOMAN S REWARD. 3 Anne," rejoined the mother ; " I shall pay for no funeral, and as to the child, why, the parish must of course take that off my hands as well as the expense of burying the mother." " Yes ! a pretty disgrace that'll bring upon us, a parish burial going out of our house," observed Miss Mary Anne. " I'm sure I'd almost rather — " " But, are you quite sure, Mrs. Emlyn, that there's nothing left behind that can lead to a discovery of the young woman's friends or family," demanded a respectable looking man, who had been a nearly silent auditor of the preceding colloquy between the mother and daughter.

" Its very strange that — " "Judge for yourself, Doctor," interrupted Mrs. Emlyn, as he called her. "Them few papers in that little desk is all that's left beside the scanty bits of baby Shings and her own few clothes, that, well and genteel as she looked in'em, ain't worth next to nothing." " Rags," interjected Miss Mary Anne, in a tone of sovereign contempt. "I wouldn't give five shillings for the whole lot." " No, not you, eertainly, my dear," observed Mrs. Emlyn, contemplating with a look of satisfaction her daughter's showy attire, which, though it seemed some what out of character with the time and place, served, as both mother and daughter imagined, to set off to great advantage the tall and striking figure of the latter. " There's no necessity that the parish should know anything about the ring and keeper, nor yet them coral ear-rings she's got in her ears," whispered the daughter glancing towards the doctor, who was busily engaged in examining the papers to which Mrs. Em* l^n had directed his attention.

TRIALS OK LOVB " Certainly not, they wont more than pay me f< r the trouble I've had with her since she was took bad," returned the landlady in the same confidential tone ; "but we must hear what the doctor says about i». Perhaps, as he's disappointed of his fee, you know, he'll expect that — " " Nonsense, he'll never be so mean as to grudge our having such trifles. They wouldn't fetch anything like enough to pay him, and I've set my mind on the ear-rings. I noticed them the first day she came here, and wondered how such a shabby thing as her come to have such a pretty pair." " Well, well, say nothing about it just now," returned the mother; "leave it to me to find out how the cat jumps with him." " The mystery thickens," observed the doctor, looking up from his task. " Listen to what I have discovered.

In the first place the poor woman seems to have kept a regular account of her expenses in this little book (showing a small memorandum book). God knows they appear to have been few and frugal enough, but here, immediately after the fourteen shillings mentioned as having been paid you for a month's rent — " " Ay, and little enough too, all things considered,' ejaculated Mrs. Emlyn, " but go on, Doctor." " Well, the next item is fifteen shillings paid for an advertisement in the ' Times' newspaper with this remark — 'Oh if he should not see it and reply to it speedily, what will become of me ? Yet it was his own suggestion, and he told me that it would be a sure means of letting him know where I was, and that I could not doubt his anxiety to render me as happy as ou, woman's reward. 5 possible — Happy !

Oh merciful heaven ! what a word to use to me.' " " Well, but what's the use of this, Doctor," observed Mrs. Emlyn sharply ; " it doesn't tell us any more than we knew before." "No, it only proves what we couldn't doubt," rejoined Miss Mary Anne; "that all her fine story about her husband was all a sham, and, indeed, it makes me think worse of her than ever because — " " Stop, stop," interrupted the doctor, " I suspect we shall find the advertisement she speaks of here." And he unfolded a copy of the ' Times' newspaper of the date alluded to in the journal or diary of the poor unfortunate, which he had found in the desk. The impatience of the two females was very evident as they bent over the doctor, who deliberately proceeded to scan the advertising columns in the front of the newspaper in question.

" Here it is," he exclaimed, and he proceeded to read as follows — " If this meets the eye of L. R. L., he is requested " immediately to communicate with A. M., at Mrs. " Emlyn's, No. 2, C Street, Somers Town. The " necessity of hearing from him as soon as possible is u rendered most urgent in consequence of a most unfore " seen and unfortunate occurrence which has deprived " her of the trifle left with her by L. R. L., and ren " dered it necessary, though most reluctantly, to make " this appeal to him for instant assistance." " Lor bless me ! and to think we should never know nothing of this," observed Mrs. Emlyn, "and yet Mary .Anne reads the paper every day. I can't think how she could have overlooked — " TRIALS 0? LOVE ; 6 " You dont know what your'e talking about, mother," interrupted the young lady disdainfully ; " I should like to know when we ever see the ' Times,' and if we had, you don't suppose — " "L. R. I,," repeated Mrs. Emlyn without noticing her daughter's rebuke, " dear me, there's no making head or tail of them letters."

The doctor was apparently still in deep cogitation over the newspaper, but even he was at length compelled to acknowledge that the subject was as deeply involved in mystery as ever, and that he could suggest no more proper or prudent course to be pursued than that Mrs. Emlyn had proposed, both for the disposal of the child and the defrayal of the expenses of committing the remains of the unfortunate mother to her final resting place, namely, an application to the parish authorities. " Poor thing, she was very young and very, very beautiful," he observed, after standing for some minutes by the side of the bed in earnest contemplation of the cold and silent remains of his late patient. " Who knows but that at this moment some unhappy mother's heart is throbbing with agony for the fate of her lost child?

And the poor babe, too, it is a lovely little creature. I think if the father could see it, he could hardly have the heart to consign it to such a miserable destiny." It was a beautiful child, and, as if to enforce the doctor's compassionate remark, at this moment its de cp blue eyes unclosed from the placid sleep in which it had hitherto lain by the side of the unconscious author of its being, and, for the first time since its birth, it gave utterance to a low wailing cry, that, to any but the cal- Ious hearts of the bystanders, or at least the female part of them, would have sounded like an appeal for that protection of which death had deprived it in the person of its mother " Something must be done for this poor infant without delay, Mrs. Emlyn," observed the doctor in a cooler and more decisive tone than he had previously assumed towards the landlady — who had been what she herself called a very good customer to him as well as having recommended him whenever she had met an opportunity in his but newly assumed practice — " I would advise you, my dear madam," he continued in a more softened tone as he observed her look of anger and vexation, " if you have made up your mind to apply for parochial assistance not to delay it, for the child of course requires — " " If I have !

Doctor Stratford ; what in the world else can I do ; you cannot suppose — " The doctor was anxious to prevent a repetition of the arguments Mrs. Emlyn had before adduced in support of her projected application, and he therefore hastily, replied — " Certainly, certainly, my dear Madam ; I did not see what else you can do. I only meant to remind you that every hour renders it more imperative that the child should be placed in the care of a nurse." Mrs. Emlyn bowed coldly and stiffly, and the do ctor, with an affectation of friendly familiarity which was in tended to do away with the offence which it was but too plain he had given the lady, continued — " Well, if I can be of any further service in this most unpleasant affair I hope you will use no ceremony towards me, dear Mrs. Emlyn." He was about to depart when his retreat down the ; narrow staircise was intercepted by the appearance oi the dirty slipshod drudge of a girl, whom Mrs. Emlyn dignified with the title of her 'maid servant.' " Well, what do you want, Beckey," demanded the latter lady, in a pettish tone, as the girl, stooping her head so as to be able to look into the room under the doctor's arm, darted an eager and enquiring glance towards the bed on which lay all that remained of the late occupant of her mistress' garret.

" Oh ! what a pity, ma'am, what a pity," exclaimed Beckey, looking,half-frightened but yet more sorrowful, in her mistress' face. "Here's a letter come for the poor lady, the very letter that she was fretting about these three or four days ; for every time she heard a knock at the door she would run down ever so many stairs to listen, and then she'd say, so pitiful and with sich a sigh, ' oh dear; it aint the postman then' and now the postman is come and — " Mrs. Emlyn eagerly snatched the letter which Beckey was holding by the comer of her apron lest she should soil it, as it appeared, with her dirty hands. •The doctor returned into the room with curiosity (.trongly imprinted on every feature, and Beckey, having stolen another glance of awe and sorrow at the death-bed, retreated down the stairs again, wiping away the tears which were streaming down her grimy face, and repeating aloud her expressions of regret and pity that the letter " hadn't come afore when it could ha' done sich a mortal deal o'good.

But she's gone to heaven, where she wont want letters nor nothing else," continued Beckey returning to her task of brush ing the parlour stove. " Yes, in spite of all old missus and Miss Mary Anne says about her, she's gone among the blessed cherubims to be a hangel for ever and ever. How I wish i'd got a bit o'mournin to put on for her — but I dont suppose they'll give me so much as a scrap o' black ribbon for my cap, though they've got lots and lots in their chests — the stingy set." " There can't be nothing improper in my opening this letter, of course, Doctor," observed Mrs. Emlyn when they had returned into the room. " Certainly not, my dear madam," he replied ; " but stay a moment if you please ; do not destroy the seal ; that crest and those initials may lead to something. Ah, a motto I see ; ' Hope on — Hope always'— not very applicable in the present case, but, I beg your pardon, you are anxious of course to see the inside as well as the out."

Miss Mary Anne's scissars soon removed the wax without injuring the impression, and the countenances of both ladies, hitherto so sombre and expressive of vexation, lighted up with very different feelings as they drew from the envelope two bank notes each of the value of ten pounds. " Well, come, after all things wont turn out so very bad," observed the elder lady, while the younger one, affecting less interest as to the value of the enclosure, was occupied in attempting to decypher the few senten ces that accompanied it. This was a task however very evidently beyond her ability, though they were written in a fine Italian hand, and she therefore with a smile relinquished it to Doctor Stratford, observing, " that she never saw such a cramped outlandish handwriting in her life." "Your advertisement, dearest Amy, has only just "met my eye, having been out of town.

I hasten to jj ; " reply to it, I trust to your satisfaction ; though I cannot 'imagine what you allude to as having happened to " reduce you to the necessity you speak of. I know your " habits of economy too well to believe that you can have " spent the sum you had in your possession when we " parted. Can it be that you have been taken advantage " of by those people ? But no matter; thank Heaven I " had it in my power to send the enclosed. But I will ' ' not add to your vexation by adverting to the difficulties " that at the present moment prevent my doing all I '• would wish. I trust a short time will remove them, " and then my beloved girl shall find, that, however " blamable my conduct to her has been, I will at least " take care to remove from her all fear or anxiety for the " suture.

Keep up your spirits, dear, dearest Amy, and " believe that my most ardent wish is to restore .you, as far "as possible, to happiness. In a few weeks I shall be " able to see you, and by that time you will, I hope, have " one to comfort you and plead for its guilty father's " pardon. Acknowledge the receipt of the money by ad " vertisement as before to L. R. L., and believe him ever " most truly thine. If you want more money before we " meet do not hesitate to make that want known in the "same way as before, and be sure, isa certain interest " ing event takes place before I am enabled to see you, " to let me know in the same way, namely — by ad ver " tisement." "Well, if I ever heard of such a thing," exclaimed Mrs. Emlyn, " to be carrying on in the newspaper." " Pshaw, it's as common as common can be, mother," interrupted the daughter.

"I've read hundreds of advertisements that you might see with half an eye was love affairs." " It is plain, at any rate, in this case," rejoined the landlady, " that there's no scarcity of money, and that of course makes all the difference in the world to us." " Well, but what's your advice now, Doctor ; there can be no doubt the gentleman is a gentleman. It wont do therefore to make any application to the parish." "And yet, suppose — as he's got rid of the mother — he shouldn't come forward to provide for the child," observed the more cautious Miss Mary Anne. The doctor interfered with considerable warmth — " It was not probable, not for a moment to be credited," he observed, " that the person in question would act so unnaturally. No, every line in that advertisement contradicted such a supposition.

On the contrary, he should himself rely with the most perfect good faith on the gentleman's acting with the utmost liberality." And then he pointed out so clearly the advantages that might accrue to the ladies, Mrs Emlyn and her daughter, from being appointed perhaps the future guardians of the child: the handsome provision that would no doubt be made for its nurture, etc. etc., that a total revolution in the feelings with which they had previously beheld the poor infant was speedily effected, and both mother and daughter became as solicitous for its comfort and suture welfare as they had hitherto -shown themselves the reverse. " Pretty creature, I dont really think I could have h« heart to give it up to the horrid workhouse, even if I me the father would not come forward," observed v Anne, taking it from the place it had hitherto ,j u'd by the side of the lifeless mother, where it had hitherto been suffered to remain with as Rule attention bestowed upon it as though it had been equally lifeless and unconscious.

" Sweet little infant, it would indeed be a sin and a shame not to do all in one's power to supply the sad loss of its mother; though, you know, doctor," she continued with some thing like confusion in her face as she observed a doubtful smile on her companion's countenance, " of course one can't always give way to one's feelings in this sad world ; and it did seem a little hard that we should be brought into so much trouble and expense as seemed likely to be the case for a person that we knew nothingabout. Prudence,you know,Doctor Stratford" — " Certainly, Miss Emlyn, prudence is a most neces sary virtue, and there is no necessity for any vindication of your conduct," replied the doctor. "I am very glad that you have the opportunity of indulging your amiable feelings without injury to your interest."

Miss Mary Anne's cue now was to give full vent to her gentle and sympathetic feelings. Even the poor Useless clay, whose death almost had been a crime in her eyes, as having brought trouble and disgrace into their establishment, was now an object of pity with her; and, although she could not quite agree with Doctor Stratford in thinking the deceased Mrs. Mortimer, (so the poor girl had calhd herself) so remarkably beautiful, seeing that even in life the latter had been so unnatu rally pale as to be quite insipid, and " so little" that it amounted in her eyes to insignificance — Miss Mary Anne was herself tall beyond the usual height of woman, rather robust, and much too floridforfeminine delicacy — yet she acknowledged that on the whole the poor thing, Mrs. Mortimer, was, as far as regarded her per sonal appearance, rather pretty and interesting.

Mrs. Emlyn, who had been to prepare some food for the infant, who was now become an object of so much care and interest, now returned, and in the course of the conversation that ensued between the two ladies and their medical adviser, who also appeared in this instance perfectly willing to assume the part of their confidential friend, the course of their future pro ceedings was fully discussed and resolved upon. It was first of all necessary, as the doctor suggested, that the intelligence of poor Mrs. Mortimer's death, and the birth of the child, should be communicated to the person most deeply interested in those events, the L. R. L. of the letter and the advertisement. " This, of course, must be done in the same way, through the columns of the ' Times? " he continued. " Perhaps, as I dare say you are not much accustomed to these sort of affairs, it will be as well that I should do it for you."

The ladies expressed their satisfaction at the pro posal, and having resorted to the desk of the deceased Mrs. Mortimer for the necessary materiel of pen, ink and paper; the doctor, after a short cogitation, pro duced the following, which he evidently considered a very happy imitation of the mysterious, and, as Miss Mary Anne observed, romantic style of the original advertisement. "ToL. R. L. " The assistance came too late. She died on the "night preceding its receipt. There is now, however, " another who has claims on L. R. L., to which, it is " hoped, he will immediately attend. The friends into " whose hands the communication of L. R. L. to A. M "has fallen, will do all that is right and proper under LOVR, " the melancholy circumstances, hut await with great " anxiety and impatience a further communication from " him to whom this is addressed."

To Mrs. Emlyn's rather obtuse faculties, this scarcely appeared sufficiently explanatory. " She would rather," she observed, " have had it plainly stated, that the poor young woman had given birth to a child, and that it was necessary that it should be at once settled how it was to be disposed of;" but she was over ruled by both Mary Anne and the doctor, the latter pointing out the necessity of the utmost caution being observed in such a delicate case, and showing that it was utterly impossible that there could be any mistake or difficulty of apprehension on the part of the person addressed, as to the new claimant on his affection. " It will be only necessary to add, that a communication to Mrs. E., at the late residence of A. M. in C Street, Somers Town, will be thankfully received and attended to," observed the doctor, " and then I think we shall have done all that can be done."

Mrs. Emlyn, however, appeared far from satisfied. " For her part," she remarked, " she hated all mys teries. There was never any good came of such round-about ways of going to work, and it would be much more likely to bring matters to a point at once, by stating in plain terms the birth of the child, and requiring that — " "Why, mother, I never heard you talk such ridiculous nonsense," exclaimed the polite and dutiful daughter. " If there wasn't some uncommon reason' for it, do you think this person, whoever he is, would be so cautious, as its plain he has been, in not having even put his name to the note to Mrs. Mortimer, as' rkward. 15 she called herself; and, if he sees that we are equally cautious in wording the communication to him, won't it be the very means to show him that we are worthy to be trusted with the secret, whatever it is."

The old woman shook her head, but she knew it would be useless to contend with her sagacious and prudent daughter, and she therefore relinquished her opposition without any further observation, though, even by her silence, she betrayed that her opinion of the mode adopted had undergone no alteration. " I will walk down to the ' Times' office with this myself," observed the doctor, folding the paper. An acknowledgment that he was very kind from Miss Mary Anne, and a silent nod of the head from her mother, was the only answer to this, and the doctor, after fidgetting a little, was at length compelled, in plain terms, to remind the ladies that the advertisement would cost at least as much, probably something more than (as they had learned from Mrs. Mortimer's journal) the former one had done, and that it was indispensable he should take the money with him.

If there was one thing in the world that Mrs. Emlyn hated more than another, it was paying away money, without, as in this instance, she considered the certainty of a profitable return, and, with a strong ex pression of petulance and vexation, she remarked, " That, in the first place, she considered it was a most exhorbitant sum for such a trifle as putting them few words in the paper, and the second, that she shouldn't wonder if it proved to be throwing so much mo ney away, for who could say that the man, Mr. L. R. L., would ever see it. or, if he did, would pay any attention to it." TRIALS 0. LOVE ; " If that is your opinion, then, madam," returned the doctor gravely, " perhaps you had better drop the affair altogether, or at least return to your first resolution of putting it into the hands of the Parish Officers.