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A Lady of Quality

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A Lady of Quality

Last updated on Jul 31, 2025 8:36 AM.
No Rights Reserved - CC0 1.0Teens
Fiction

A novel written during the late 19th century. This fiction work delves into the life of a young lady named Clorinda, born into a tumultuous familial environment marked by her father's loud and boisterous behavior and her mother’s tragic demise following childbirth. The story explores Clorinda's unusual upbringing and the struggle between her spirits and societal expectations as she emerges into womanhood. The opening of the novel introduces us to the chaotic world of Wildairs Hall, where we meet Sir Jeoffry, a disgruntled father, ready to embark on a hunting escapade, seemingly indifferent to the troubles of his household, including the birth of another daughter. Meanwhile, Lady Daphne, his wife, lies weak and neglected after giving birth to Clorinda, ultimately succumbing to her despair. As the narrative unfolds, we see glimpses of Clorinda's fiery temperament and fierce spirit take shape amidst a backdrop of disreputable family conditions, promising a journey of growth, resilience, and the quest for identity in a world that offers her little tenderness.

Table of content

Last updated on Jul 31, 2025 8:36 AM.

The twenty-fourth day of November 1690

In which Sir Jeoffry encounters his offspring

Wherein Sir Jeoffry’s boon companions drink a toast

Lord Twemlow’s chaplain visits his patron’s kinsman, and Mistress Clorinda shines on her birthday night

“Not I,” said she. “There thou mayst trust me. I would not be found out.”

Relating how Mistress Anne discovered a miniature

’Twas the face of Sir John Oxon the moon shone upon

Two meet in the deserted rose garden, and the old Earl of Dunstanwolde is made a happy man

“I give to him the thing he craves with all his soul—myself”

“Yes—I have marked him”

Wherein a noble life comes to an end

Which treats of the obsequies of my Lord of Dunstanwolde, of his lady’s widowhood, and of her return to town

Wherein a deadly war begins

Containing the history of the breaking of the horse Devil, and relates the returning of his Grace of Osmonde from France

In which Sir John Oxon finds again a trophy he had lost

Dealing with that which was done in the Panelled Parlour

Wherein his Grace of Osmonde’s courier arrives from France

My Lady Dunstanwolde sits late alone and writes

A piteous story is told, and the old cellars walled in

A noble marriage

An heir is born

Mother Anne

“In One who will do justice, and demands that it shall be done to each thing He has made, by each who bears His image”

The doves sate upon the window-ledge and lowly cooed and cooed

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