E-text prepared by Andrew Templeton, Juliet Sutherland,
Josephine Paolucci, Tonya Allen,
and Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders
THE CORYSTON FAMILY
A NOVEL
BY
MRS. HUMPHRY WARD
ILLUSTRATED BY
ELIZABETH SHIPPEN GREEN
1913
TO
G.M.T.
AND
J.P.T.
ILLUSTRATIONS
"HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN CONCOCTING THIS, MOTHER?" Frontispiece
THE CONVERSATION DROPPED, JUST AS THE VOICE OF THE ORATOR ROSE TO HIS PERORATION
AS SHE SAW MARCIA HER FACE LIT UP
THIS MORNING HE FOUND HER ALL GIRLISH GENTLENESS AND APPEAL
MARCIA WAS SINGING, IN A LOW VOICE AS SHE CAME
HE SAT STILL, STUDYING HIS MOTHER'S STRONG, LINED FACE
NOW SUDDENLY—HERE WAS A FRIEND—ON WHOM TO LEAN
Book I
LADY CORYSTON
[Greek: turannon einai moria kai tonthelein.]
CHAPTER I
The hands of the clock on the front of the Strangers' Gallery were nearingsix. The long-expected introduc