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    Good Lady Ducayne
    Good Lady Ducayne
    Good Lady Ducayne
    Ebook43 pages36 minutes

    Good Lady Ducayne

    By Mary Elizabeth Braddon

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    Good Lady Ducayne', is a gothic novella by Mary Elizabeth Braddon originally published in 1869. It is a nineteenth century incarnation of the popular vampire myth, setting it against the backdrop of an Anglicised region of the Italian Riviera during the Victorian era. This is a great read and an excellent addition to the bookshelf of anyone with an interest in the genre. To this republication is added a specially commissioned brand new short biography of the author.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWhite Press
    Release dateJul 14, 2020
    ISBN9781528766142
    Good Lady Ducayne
    Author

    Mary Elizabeth Braddon

    Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1835–1915) was a Victorian English author best known for her sensation novels. She was rather prolific, having written more than eighty novels in her lifetime. In 1862, Braddon published Lady Audley’s Secret, a rousing success that earned her a fortune. She also founded Belgravia magazine, which serialized sensation novels, biographies, poems, and essays; and wrote supernatural fiction, such as Gerald: Or, The World, the Flesh and the Devil. Braddon’s works have endured through the years and been adapted into films and television shows.   

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      Book preview

      Good Lady Ducayne - Mary Elizabeth Braddon

      GOOD LADY DUCAYNE

      CHAPTER I

      Bella Rolleston had made up her mind that her only chance of earning her bread and helping her mother to an occasional crust was by going out into the great unknown world as companion to a lady. She was willing to go to any lady rich enough to pay her a salary and so eccentric as to wish for a hired companion. Five shillings told off reluctantly from one of those sovereigns which were so rare with the mother and daughter, and which melted away so quickly, five solid shillings, had been handed to a smartly-dressed lady in an office in Harbeck Street, W., in the hope that this very Superior Person would find a situation and a salary for Miss Rolleston.

      The Superior Person glanced at the two half-crowns as they lay on the table where Bella’s hand had placed them, to make sure they were neither of them forms, before she wrote a description of Bella’s qualifications and requirements in a formidable-looking ledger.

      ‘Age?’ she asked curtly.

      ‘Eighteen, last July.’

      ‘Any accomplishments?’

      ‘No; I am not at all accomplished. If I were I should want to be a governess--a companion seems the lowest stage.’

      ‘We have some highly accomplished ladies on our books as companions, or chaperon companions.’

      ‘Oh, I know!’ babbled Bella, loquacious in her youthful candour. ‘But that is quite a different thing. Mother hasn’t been able to afford a piano since I was twelve years old, so I’m afraid I’ve forgotten how to play. And I have had to help mother with her needlework, so there hasn’t been much time to study.’

      ‘Please don’t waste time upon explaining what you can’t do, but kindly tell me anything you can do,’ said the Superior Person, crushingly, with her pen poised between delicate fingers waiting to write. ‘Can you read aloud for two or three hours at a stretch? Are you active and handy, an early riser, a good walker, sweet tempered, and obliging?’

      ‘I can say yes to all those questions except about the sweetness. I think I have a pretty good temper, and I should be anxious to oblige anybody who paid for my services. I should want them to feel that I was really earning my salary.’

      ‘The kind of ladies who come to me would not care for a talkative companion,’ said the Person, severely, having finished writing in her book. ‘My connection lies chiefly among the aristocracy, and in that class considerable deference is expected.’

      ‘Oh, of course,’ said Bella; ‘but it’s quite different when I’m talking to you. I want to tell you all about myself once and for ever.’

      ‘I am glad it is to be only once!’ said the Person, with the edges of her lips.

      The Person was of uncertain age, tightly laced in a black silk gown. She had a powdery complexion and a handsome clump of somebody else’s hair on the top of her head. It may be that Bella’s girlish freshness and vivacity had an irritating effect upon nerves weakened by

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