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Johnny Ludlow Novel Chapters
List of most recent chapters published for the Johnny Ludlow novel. A total of 580 chapters have been translated and the release date of the last chapter is Apr 02, 2024
Latest Release: Chapter 1 : Johnny Ludlow.First Series.by Mrs. Henry Wood.I.LOSING LENA.We lived chiefly at d.y.k.e
Johnny Ludlow.First Series.by Mrs. Henry Wood.I.LOSING LENA.We lived chiefly at d.y.k.e Manor. A fine old place, so close upon the borders of Warwicks.h.i.+re and Worcesters.h.i.+re, that many people did not know which of the two counties it was really in
- 201 "I hope it is, I'm sure," repeated Coney. "I don't like that blue tinge round his lips."They went back to the dinner-table when Dr. Lewis revived. Anne remained kneeling at his feet, gently chafing his hands."What's
- 202 And when they arrived the next day at Lake's, and Anne heard that Henry Angerstyne was in truth still there and knew that she should soon be in his presence, it did indeed seem to her that she had stepped into paradise. She was alone when he entered.
- 203 "To sit by that winding stream on a summer's day listening to its murmurs, to the singing of the birds, the sweet sighing of the trees; or holding low converse with a cherished companion--yes, Anne, you would like that. It would just suit you, f
- 204 The blinds of a house closely drawn, the snow drifting against the windows outside, and somebody lying dead upstairs, cannot be called a lively state of things. Mrs. Lewis and her daughters, Julia and f.a.n.n.y Podd, sitting over the fire in the darkened
- 205 "And mind you do keep it safely," enjoined old Coney. "It won't be opened, I suppose, till after the funeral's over.""But wait a minute," interposed the clergyman. "Does not marriage--a subsequent marriage--ren
- 206 She knew that she had no means of living, except by her own exertions; she had not even a rag to wear or a coin to spend, except what should come to her by Mrs. Lewis's bounty. And, whether that lady possessed bounty or not, she seemed never to posse
- 207 "Very much occupied to-day. Can I do anything for you?""We are thinking of coming to you to-morrow for a week, Dinah; I and my two girls. They are wild to go to the Easter ball. Which rooms can you give us?""Not any rooms," s
- 208 "Oh, I shall be only too glad. I will be sure to come. Good-bye, Sir Robert: and thank you very, very much."She went home with a light heart: she had not felt so happy since her father died."How good he is! how kind! a true gentleman,"
- 209 She could never feel that same love again; it was over and done with for ever; but there was surely no reason why she should sacrifice all her future to its remembrance. _Yes_: she would accept Sir Robert Tenby: and would, by the help of Heaven, make him
- 210 "They are both well, for anything I know," he answered. "The N. D. Farm is no longer my home, Johnny."Had he told me the Manor was no longer mine, I could not have been more surprised."Why, how is that, Fred?""They have
- 211 "Not believe it!" returned Jones, aghast at the bold a.s.sertion. "Why, young Mr. Todhetley, the whole parish is a-ringing with it. There's Gisby a-dying at Shepherd's--which was the place he were carried to, being the nearest; an
- 212 "You need not be afraid, Fred. Come along. I'll do anything I can for you. Don't you know me?--Johnny Ludlow.""For the love of Heaven, put that light out, Johnny!" he said, feeling it perhaps useless to hold out, or else deci
- 213 "What a stunning thing!" he exclaimed. "Good luck, Fred! we'll help you.I knew he was innocent, Johnny. Food? Yes, of course; we must get it for him. Molly, you say? Molly be shot!""Well, you know what Molly is, Tod. Let half
- 214 Late in the afternoon I went to the Parsonage, wondering how I should get to see Edna Blake alone. But Fortune favoured me--as it seemed to have favoured us throughout. The children were all at play in the nearest field. Edna was in what they called the s
- 215 "Thank you, Johnny. Thank you both. I _will_ take heart. And if I live to return, I hope I shall thank you better."Later we dared not stay; it was past nine now. I bade Fred good-bye, and G.o.d-speed."Between half-past twelve and one, mind,
- 216 Mrs. Westerbrook was with him, in a peach-coloured corded-silk gown. She made a point of dressing well. But she was just one of those women that no attire, good or bad, would set off: her face common, her figure stumpy. And so, one after another, the cong
- 217 "She may like to have it. Especially if she never sees him again.""Make haste, then, and take a lock. It's quite romantic. I am going to put a match to it."I chose the longest piece I could see, put it into an envelope, and fasten
- 218 "But now, understand this much, Mack. I only give you the money on one condition--that you say nothing about it. _Tell n.o.body._""Well, I never, Mr. Joseph! A whole golden pound! Why, sir, it'll set me up reg'lar in----"&quo
- 219 "No, thank ye, lad. I want to be independent as long as I can. Come you both over in good time on Friday. Perhaps we can get an hour or two's shooting."Friday came, and we had rather a jolly day than not, what with shooting and feasting. Gi
- 220 They came on to church together arm-in-arm. Mr. Holland joined them, and told the news--d.i.c.k Standish was dead: had died penitent. Penitent, so far as might be, in the very short time he had given to repentance, added the clergyman.But knowing that Fre
- 221 "More syllabub, Edna!" shrieked out that greedy young Charley."And me want more, too," added little Miles; "me not had enough."Edna drew her hand away to go to the table, a happy light s.h.i.+ning through her tears. Fred put
- 222 "What a jolly spree!" cried Tod, his face flus.h.i.+ng with delight. "How I should like it!""I wish to goodness you were coming. But Temple has made up his party.It is his affair, you know. He talks of staying out a month."&q
- 223 Tod carried his point. He turned so restive and obstinate over it as to surprise and vex the Squire, who of course knew nothing about the long-standing debt to Mr. Brandon. The Squire had no legal power to keep the money, if Tod insisted upon having it. A
- 224 From Whitney Hall we went to Evesham, and hastily procured what we wanted. The next day but one was that fixed for our departure, and when it at last dawned, bright and hot, we started amidst the good wishes of all the house. Tod with a fis.h.i.+ng-rod an
- 225 "MacRae's superst.i.tions.""Nonsense, Slingsby!"Temple made no rejoinder. In his eye, which chanced to catch mine at the moment, there sat a singular expression. I wondered whether he was recalling that other superst.i.tion of Fre
- 226 For that matter, none of us were any good, for we could do nothing for Temple.I did not relish the task: I did not care to tell a mother that her son, whom she believes is well and hearty, is lying in danger. But I had to go: Rupert seemed to take it as a
- 227 That was the end of our boating tour. Ridicule has been cast on some of the facts, and will be again. It is a painful subject; and I don't know that I should have related it, but for its having led to another (and more lively) adventure, which I proc
- 228 I laid one of Tod's cards on the table. The captain took it up."It's a great grief to me to leave the house," he remarked. "Especially after having been only a few months in it!--and laying in a stock of the best furniture in a pl
- 229 Inquiring of our landlady for the nearest bank, Tod was directed to a town called St. Ann's, three miles off; and we started for it at once, pelting along the hot and dusty road. The bank found--a small one, with a glazed bow-window, Tod presented a
- 230 "What on earth does anybody want at this time of night?" growled Tod."And why can't they ring like decent people? What's your business?" he roared out from the window. "Who the d.i.c.kens are you?""Hush, Tod! I
- 231 "Bread-and-cheese!" he echoed. "It is not a question of only bread-and-cheese. We must get our beds made and the knives cleaned."It seemed rather a blue look-out. Tod said he would go up again to the Whistling Wind, and tell Mother Jon
- 232 "I see him for certain. I see him busy with the baskets as the men filled 'em."Dragging me after him, Tod went striding off to Tasker's. We knew the man by sight; had once spoken to him about his garden. He was a kind of nurseryman. Ta
- 233 As Tod had done nothing of the kind, he could only slash away at the other duck, and bite his lips."You took to a closet of linen, and did not think it necessary to examine whether linen was there, or whether it was all dumb-show----""I
- 234 Lee turned his eyes in the direction of the greens and the apple-trees; but the window was misty, and he could only see the drizzle of rain-drops on the diamond panes. As he sat there, a thought came into his head that he was beginning to feel old: old, a
- 235 "Goodness knows. Upon things that he pledges, and the vegetables in the garden. I was in there last night, and I can tell you it was a picture, Mr. Johnny Ludlow.""A picture of what?""Misery: distress: hopelessness. It is several
- 236 "I have striven and struggled all my life long; only myself knows how sorely, save G.o.d; and only He can tell, for I am sure I can't, how I have contrived to keep my head any way above water. And now it's under it."Taking the box, whi
- 237 "The little ones are crying out for it, Mamie, and I'm sure the rest of us are hungry enough."So they bestirred themselves to take up the broth, and take seats round the table. All but Mamie, who did not leave her pillow. Very watery broth,
- 238 Johnny Ludlow.Third Series.by Mrs. Henry Wood.THE MYSTERY OF JESSY PAGE.I.Our old grey church at Church d.y.k.ely stood in a solitary spot. Servant maids (two of ours once, Hannah and Molly), and silly village girls went there sometimes to watch for the &
- 239 "I take it, then, that he is above _us_," reasoned Miss Page."Oh dear, yes: in station. Ever so much.""Then I'm sure I don't care to entertain him."Miss Page went straight into the best kitchen on arriving at home.
- 240 In truth they had almost forgotten the person mentioned. Madame Caron had once been plain Ann d.i.c.ker, of Church d.y.k.ely, intimate with William Page and his wife. She went to London when a young woman to learn the millinery and dress-making; married a
- 241 "Then you had better send Sally to find it, Abigail."Instead of that, Miss Page began searching herself. On the book-shelves; on the side-board; in all the nooks and corners. It was found in the drawer of an unused table that stood against the w
- 242 I'm sure I don't know where it can have got to."And there we were: at a standstill for a bit of string. Looking at one another like so many helpless noodles, and the flaring candles coming to an end! Tod said, tear a strip off the tail of b
- 243 "Not ask you! But we must ask you. And you must answer. Where have you been, and what have you been doing?""I--can't tell," sobbed Jessy. "The story is too long.""Story too long!" echoed Susan quickly, "yo
- 244 "No," she faintly said: "only the hard work I had to do; and the thought of how I left my home; and--and my unhappiness. I was unhappy always, nearly from my first entering. The work was hard.""What was the work?""It was
- 245 "She seems queerer than usual--I hope her mind's not going," thought Susan. "Did you ever go to see Madame Caron, Jessy, while you were in London?""Never. Why should I? I didn't know Madame Caron.""When Marcus
- 246 They buried her in the churchyard beside her mother. When the secret got about, some said it was not right--that she ought to have been taken elsewhere, to a graveyard devoted to the other faith. Which would just have put the finis.h.i.+ng stroke on old P
- 247 "His son's here," roared out pa.s.sionate Tod. "What the deuce is the meaning of this, sir?"The man shot down the path like an arrow. Mrs. Todhetley--who had been walking on, seeming not to have caught the words, or to know whose
- 248 "Any time," answered Mrs. Todhetley. "I am going over to Mr. Coney's, but not to stay. Or perhaps you'll go for me presently, Johnny, and ask whether Mrs. Coney has come home," she added, as Thomas left the room.I said I'
- 249 "But I had to go over to the Coneys'. I've only just got back again."He looked into the room and saw that it was empty. "Where's madam gone?To the Ravine after her friend?""She was here sewing not a minute ago."
- 250 Tod's eyes were blazing with angry, haughty light. Spare _him_! He thought she was miserably equivocating; he had some such idea as that she sought (in words) to make him a scape-goat for her relative's sins.What he answered I hardly know; excep
- 251 "Yes," he answered, "half-a-dozen times. Do you mind, Master Johnny, my getting that there bad cut in the leg with my reaping-hook awhile agone?Seven weeks I lay in Worcester Infirmary: they carried me there on a mattress shoved down in the
- 252 "But you took Hugh out with you," she said."Not I," answered the Squire.Mrs. Todhetley's face turned white. She looked from one to the other of us in a helpless kind of manner. "Lena said you did," she returned, and her
- 253 "You are a great fool, Cook.u.m. I've told you that I mean no harm to you or to any one in the place; so to make this fuss is needless. You may have a band of felons concealed here, or a cart-load of stolen goods; they are all safe for me. But i
- 254 Mrs. Todhetley, pale and anxious, was standing under the mulberry-tree when we got back. She came across the gra.s.s."Any news?" cried Tod. As if the sight of her was not enough, that he need have asked!"No, no, Joseph. Did you see him?&quo
- 255 He answered nothing for the moment; his face was working a little, and he gave her fingers a grip that must have caused pain."If the worst comes of this, and Hugh never is amongst us again, I will go over the seas in the wake of the villain Arne,&quo
- 256 "How have you been, Jemima? Taking care of yourself, I hope?""Quite well, thank you, Miss Deveen; and very glad to see you at home again," returned Cattledon. "This is my niece, Janet Carey."A slight, small girl, with smooth
- 257 "And I'm sure if she came every week she'd be welcome to a meal," spoke Miss Deveen. "Ah now, young ladies," she went on in a joking tone, "if you wanted your fortunes told, Mrs. Ness is the one to do it.""Does
- 258 "But you said it would not come to anything," interrupted Helen."Well, and no more it won't: leastways, it seemed so by the cards; and it seemed to bring a bother with it--old folks pulling one way maybe, and young 'uns the other.
- 259 Das.h.i.+ng to the door, I looked over the bal.u.s.trades. The shrieks and calls came from Lettice Lane, who was stumbling up the stairs from the hall. Cattledon opened her door in her night-cap, saw me, and shut it again with a bang."Murder! robbers
- 260 After finis.h.i.+ng the ferns last night they had neglected to send the basin away. The slippers were rose-coloured, worked with white flowers in floss silk; and the bits of loose green from the ferns floated over them like green weeds on a pond. Helen ha
- 261 "Not a bit of it, Johnny," she said. "My opinion has come round to Mr.Policeman Stone's--that we must look indoors for the disturber. I have brought you out with me to talk about it. It is a great mystery--for I thought I could have tr
- 262 "You might go and see," spoke Mrs. Knox: "James is not sure to be to time. How _glad_ I shall be when that governess is here to take the trouble of you children off me!" she added, fretfully. Mina did not take the hint about going in:
- 263 (But the reader must understand that in writing this paper, I, Johnny Ludlow, am at a disadvantage. Not having been present myself at Lefford, I can only relate at second hand what happened at Mrs. Knox's.) The time went on. Janet Carey proved hersel
- 264 She stood glancing up at him with her nice eyes, as shy as could be, uncertain whether he was mocking her."Do you know, Miss Carey, that I never ask a young lady for a song now.I don't care to hear the new songs, they are so poor and frivolous:
- 265 "Yes. Mr. Shuttleworth came down to Lefford yesterday, and has been going into the books with me this morning. And, by the way, Arnold, I hope you will meet him here at dinner to-night. I should not a bit wonder, either, but he might tell you of some
- 266 Mrs. Knox dressed herself with Sally's help, and went out with my Lady Jenkins--the ex-Mayor of Lefford's wife. The bills and the calculations made a long job, and Janet's mind was buried in it, when a startling disturbance suddenly arose i
- 267 "Shuttleworth says the kind of practice is not what he has been accustomed to, and the work's too hard, and he does not care how soon he leaves it. And yet Dockett has come on surprisingly, and takes his share now. The fact is, Arnold, Shuttlewo
- 268 He took the wasted, fevered hand in his, and laid his soothing fingers on the damp brow. Miss Tamlyn went away for a minute's respite from the sick-room."Bertie, my boy!""Why didn't you come before, Arnold?" was the low, weak
- 269 "Certainly I am. Every one ought to be, I think."The surgeon took his cigar from his mouth. "I'll tell you my opinion, if you care to know it," he said. "The note was burnt.""Burnt!""Well, it is the most l
- 270 "There, that's enough," said Mrs. Knox. "The thing is done with, and it cannot be recalled. Janet Carey won't die of it."Dr. Knox went about Lefford with the box in his hand, making things right. He called in at the police-st
- 271 With a face of concern, he listened to what Miss Deveen had to say of the illness. When she spoke of Janet's fright at seeing the policeman at the Colosseum, his brow went red and he bit his lips. Next came the sleep-walking: she told it all."He
- 272 She just took his hand in hers and squeezed it. It was the first day she had seen him, but she liked his face.Cattledon began upon Janet at once. If she felt well enough to start off on promiscuous drives, she must be well enough to see about a situation.
- 273 "As to liking him," cried Sir John, and I thought there was some hesitation in his tone; "I am not in love with him: I leave that to Helen. We don't all see with our children's eyes. He is well enough, I suppose, as Helen thinks s
- 274 "Not very lately.""I hear the outward voyage did him a world of good.""I believe it did."As if the questions of the stranger worried him, Captain Foliott strolled away towards the abbey: the two girls, Tod, and William follow
- 275 "Just so, lad. But, on the other hand, it may be the one we know of, Richard Foliott. One point coincides--he is going to be married."I sat back on the seat, revolving probabilities, and thinking of many things. That instinctive dislike I had ta
- 276 Lake, who had dropped in--we amused ourselves with music and games in the other room."What do you think of the bridegroom, Johnny Ludlow?" suddenly demanded Miss Cattledon, who had sat down by me. "I hear you saw him at Malvern.""
- 277 "He will never be any better," affirmed Mr. Foliott, "be very sure of that. He is innately bad, and the pain he has inflicted upon me for years has made me old before my time. But--forgive me, Sir John, for saying so--I cannot think you exe
- 278 Johnny asks you not."Helen knitted her brow, but put the envelope into her pocket with the letter: not conceding with at all a good grace, and went down nodding her head in semi-defiance. The cream of the sting lay no doubt in the fact that the lette
- 279 Just a few roods out of the village stood a small dwelling called Marigold Cottage. A tidy woman named Bean lived in it with her two daughters, one of whom was the paid mistress of the national girls'-school. Mr. Leafchild lodged here, as the late cu
- 280 They met one day by accident. Helen was out moping in the long broad walk: which was beginning to be shady now, for May was all but in, and the trees were putting on their foliage. At the end of it she came to a standstill, leaning on the gate. The waters
- 281 "Do you know who he is?" I said to Helen, who was standing with me a little apart."No--how should I know? Except that he must be one of the minor canons.""He is Mr. Leafchild's rector.""Is he?" she eagerly crie
- 282 "You should not have come", he managed to say. "My love, my love!""Is there no hope?" she sobbed. "Oh, Charles, is there _no_ hope?""May G.o.d soothe it to you! May He have you always in His good keeping!"
- 283 "It's a'most as s.h.i.+ny as silk. I say, Mrs. Reed, d'ye think this 'ud wear?""It would wear for ever," put in Jellico. "Ten yards of it would make as good a gown as ever went on a lady's back; and the co
- 284 She don't need to act it, neither; I give her a whole ten s.h.i.+llings t'other day, and she went and laid it out at Alcester."No doubt. Any amount of s.h.i.+llings would soon be sacrificed to Ann's vanity."How much longer is that
- 285 "Why, I gave Jellico double that for it! Where's the use of you running things down?"As Jellico was in one sense a friend of Mr. Figg's--for he was certainly the cause of three parts of his pledges being brought to him--the p.a.w.nbrok
- 286 "Look here, Reed; I've promised to set it right for her. Don't worry over it.""I'll not accept help from anybody; not even from you, Master Johnny.What she has done she must abide by.""The bargain's made, Reed;
- 287 "Nash is worse than a child," grumbled Miles to the Squire, his tones harder than usual, and his manner colder. "He has gone and married this young woman--who is not his equal--and now he has no home to give her.Did he suppose that we shoul
- 288 "But how _can_ I, I say?" cried Nash ruefully. "You know how impracticable it is--the impediment that exists.""Stuff and nonsense, Caromel! Where there's a will there's a way.Impediments only exist to be got over."&
- 289 Pettipher was coming straight down to the window, letters in hand.Something in his free, onward step seemed to say that he must be in the habit of delivering the letters to Nash at that same window."Two, sir, this morning," said Pettipher, handi
- 290 The Squire had caught sight of some one turning to the door from the covered path. I saw the f.a.g-end of a petticoat."I think it must be Mrs. Scott, sir. The mother said she had promised to come over one of these first evenings.""Ay,"
- 291 Still I did not believe it could be my Nash, but I could see that Mr.Munn did believe it was. At least he thought there was something strange about it all, especially our not hearing from Nash: and at length I determined to come home and see about it.&quo
- 292 This put the finis.h.i.+ng stroke to the Squire's temper. He flung out of the room with a few unorthodox words, and came home in a tantrum.We had had times of commotion at Church d.y.k.ely before, but this affair capped all. The one Mrs. Nash Caromel
- 293 It was executed, the will, all in due form, having been drawn up by a lawyer from a distance; not by Nave, who may have thought it as well to keep his fingers out of the pie. A few days after the return of Charlotte the First, when Nash first became ill,
- 294 When, upon looking into his pale, stony face, she saw the late master.He vanished into air or into the wall, and down fell Mary Standish in a fainting-fit. The parish grew uneasy at all this--and wondered what had been done to Nash, or what he had done, t
- 295 "Oh dear, I have left my parasol!" cried Charlotte, just as they reached the gate. "I must have it: my blue parasol!" And Nave, giving an angry growl to parasols in general, pulled the horse up."You need not get out, hindering tim
- 296 "And how could I tell again him when I was asked not to?" contended Grizzel, the tears dropping on to a tin saucepan she was rubbing out."Master Nash was as dear to me as the others were. Could it be me to speak up and say he was not in the
- 297 "And what news have you brought from the Rill, ma'am?" questioned Grizzel, who was making a custard pudding at the kitchen table. "I hope you found things better than you feared.""They could not well be worse," sighed Mi
- 298 "I speak of his wife," said the old gentleman, loftily. "I have never called any other woman Mrs. Nash Caromel. Her uncle, Tinkle, of Inkberrow, called about the transfer of some of his funded property, and she was with him. I respect that
- 299 Pa.s.sing Grizzel with a nod, she went straight upstairs, opened Nash's door, and then--drew back with a scream. For there she saw two strangers. Mr. Duffham was leaning over the bed, trying to feed Nash with spoonfuls of beef-tea; Parson Holland (wh
- 300 "Do you know her husband?""Don't know him from Adam. Johnny, I hope that's not a stolen child!Fair as she is, she can't be the woman's: there's nothing of the gipsy in her composition.""How well the gipsy