Produced by Al Haines
1882
I. Singing Sal
II. In Brunswick Terrace
III. A First Ball
IV. The Same
V. The Same
VI. First Impressions
VII. Auf Der Reise
VIII. Snow and Mist and Sunlight
IX. The Serenata
X. Jinny
XI. Transformation
XII. New Possibilities
XIII. Ormuzd and Ahriman
XIV. At Home
XV. A Message
XVI. Reveries
XVII. The Accepted Suitor
XVIII. A White World
XIX. Breaking Down
XX. The Shadow
XXI. Danger Ahead
XXII. A Catastrophe
XXIII. At Last
XXIV. 'Bring Home the Bride so Fair!'
On a certain golden afternoon in August, when the sea was as still andradiant as the vaulted blue overhead, and when the earth was lying sohushed and silent that you would have thought it was listening for thechirp of the small birds among the gorse, a young girl of aboutseventeen or so was walking over the downs that undulate, wave on wave,from Newhaven all along the coast to Brighton. This young lady wastall for her age; slim of form; and she had a graceful carriage; herface was fair and markedly freckled; her nose was piquant rather thanclassical; her hair, which was of a ruddy gold hue, was rebellious, andstrayed about her ears and neck in accidental wisps and rings: hergrayish or gray-blue eyes were reserved and thoughtful rather thanshrewd and observant. No, she was not beautiful; but she had a facethat attracted interest; and though her look was timid and retiring,nevertheless her eyes could, on occasion, light up with a sudden humourthat was inclined to be sarcastic. So busy, indeed, was she generally,on these solitary wanderings of hers, with her own thoughts andfancies, that sometimes she laughed to herself—a low, quiet littlelaugh that none but herself could hear.
This was Miss Anne Beresford, who was called by her sisters Nan. Butit was an old friend of the family, and one of England's most famoussailors, who, at a very early period of her career, had bestowed on herthe sobriquet of the Beautiful Wretch; and that partly because she wasa pretty and winning child, and partly because she was in the habit ofsaying surprisingly irreverent things. Now, all children sayirreverent things, simply because they read the highest mysteries bythe light of their own small experiences; but Nan Beresford's guessesat the supernatural were more than usually audacious. When, forexample, she arrived at the conclusion that fairies were never seen inthe daytime for the reason that God had had them all 'fwied for hisbweakfast,' it was clear that she was bringing a quite independent mindto bear on the phenomena of the universe around her. And then, ofcourse, all sorts of sayings that she never uttered or thought of wereattributed to her. Whenever a story was particularly wicked, it wassure to be put down to Nan Beresford. The old Admiral, who had at theoutset given her that nickname, spent a great deal of time that mighthave been profitably empl