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Binding: Kindle Edition
Format: Kindle Book
Label: Evergreen Review, Inc.
Manufacturer: Evergreen Review, Inc.
Publication Date: 2008-04-22
Publisher: Evergreen Review, Inc.
Product Release Date: 2008-04-22
Studio: Evergreen Review, Inc.

an excerpt from: PART THE FIRST. THE DISAPPEARANCE. CHAPTER I. OLD Lady Lydiard sat meditating by the fireside, with three letters lying open on her lap. Time had discolored the paper, and had turned the ink to a brownish hue. The letters were all addressed to the same person--"THE RT. HON. LORD LYDIARD"--and were all signed in the same way--"Your affectionate cousin, James Tollmidge." Judged by these specimens of his correspondence, Mr. Tollmidge must have possessed one great merit as a letter-writer--the merit of brevity. He will weary nobody's patience, if he is allowed to have a hearing. Let him, therefore, be permitted, in his own high-flown way, to speak for himself.

First Letter.--"My statement, as your Lordship requests, shall be short and to the point. I was doing very well as a portrait-painter in the country; and I had a wife and children to consider. Under the circumstances, if I had been left to decide for myself, I should certainly have waited until I had saved a little money before I ventured on the serious expense of taking a house and studio at the west end of London. Your Lordship, I positively declare, encouraged me to try the experiment without waiting. And here I am, unknown and unemployed, a helpless artist lost in London--with a sick wife and hungry children, and bankruptcy staring me in the face. On whose shoulders does this dreadful responsibility rest? On your Lordship's!"

Second Letter.--"After a week's delay, you favor me, my Lord, with a curt reply. I can be equally curt on my side. I indignantly deny that I or my wife ever presumed to see your Lordship's name as a means of recommendation to sitters without your permission. Some enemy has slandered us. I claim as my right to know the name of that enemy."

Third (and last) Letter.--"Another week has passed--and not a word of answer has reached me from your Lordship. It matters little. I have employed the interval in making inquiries, and I have at last discovered the hostile influence which has estranged you from me. I have been, it seems, so unfortunate as to offend Lady Lydiard (how, I cannot imagine); and the all-powerful influence of this noble lady is now used against the struggling artist who is united to you by the sacred ties of kindred. Be it so. I can fight my way upwards, my Lord, as other men have done before me. A day may yet come when the throng of carriages waiting at the door of the fashionable portrait-painter will include her Ladyship's vehicle, and bring me the tardy expression of her Ladyship's regret. I refer you, my Lord Lydiard, to that day!"

Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Almost as good as The Woman In White...
Review: I really enjoy Wilkie Collins, and this book did not disappoint. My favorite of his is The Woman in White, but I this book is possibly my second favorite. It truly is a classic. There is a mystery to solve, and there is also a love triangle. But there isn't too much "schmaltz" or sweetness in my opinion. It's also a fast read, since it isn't a very long book with unnecessary details.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: help
Review: one major complaint of most of all the collins classics that I have ordered is that they are not unabridged. It is almost impossible to determine if the book has been edited before it is ordered on line.

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