Sybil's Sacrifice and Other Choice Stories for the Young

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1870. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... II. THE BRAVE DAUGHTER. A STORY OF THE PLAGUE IN LONDON. CHAPTER I. DITH FALKLAND was a good and amiable girl. She had the misfortune to lose her mother when she was very young, and soon after, she was sent away from her home, and from the father she loved so fondly. But what was the cause of this separation? you will ask. Mr Falkland's eldest son had married a wicked, selfish, ambitious woman, who, establishing herself in the house of her father-in-law, took the reigns of government into her own hands. After the death of her young husband, she still preserved her authority, and abused it so much, that she persuaded Edith's father, over whom she had a great ascendancy, to send his daughter away from her home. And so Mr Falkland, yielding to the entreaties of his unamiable daughter-in-law, sent Edith to live with an old aunt at York, under the pretext of taking care of her in her old age, but really with the expectation that the young girl would one day inherit all her large fortune. Edith was no sooner out of the house than her wicked sister-in-law set herself to work, and did all she could to alienate her from her father's heart; and for the purpose of furthering her designs, she suppressed all the letters that passed between them. And so Mr Falkland naturally inferred from his daughter's unaccountable silence that she was cherishing resentful and bitter feelings against him; and as for Edith, she could only believe that her father had become indifferent to her, and no longer loved her. But yet she could not quite believe it: her pure and tender heart struggled against such a painful thought, and she tried hard to cast it from her, and believe in her father's love; but it made the young girl very miserable to be so cruelly neglected by her only parent on earth....