Excerpt from Gertrude, Vol. 1 of 2 To the world it might have seemed that, with such a home, and in the possession of youth, health, friends, and affluence, Edith Courtenay could have had no cause to sigh; and certainly there were no traces of sorrow in her open brow, her deep blue eye, or the half smile upon her lip. At nine teen, she was too young to have experienced the cares of the world, and too buoyant in Spirit to feel more than a passing dread of its trials; but she was not too young to have had experience in those petty every-day annoyances which are often mer cifully sent us in early life to prepare us for the real afflictions that await us in after years; and much as she might have been envied by many, there were circumstances in her situation which might justly have caused them to hesitate before they pronounced her happy. On this morning, however, the shade soon passed from her mind. It was only caused by the remembrance of the sum mer pleasures which were now almost gone; and when she joined her mother and her two sisters at the breakfast table, her voice was the most cheer ful, and her smile the gayest of the little party. We are very late this morning, said Mrs. Courtenay, looking at her watch. Do, Jane, go into the drawing-room, and tell me exactly what o'clock it is by the timepiece. It is not much later than usual, mamma, replied Jane, in a languid tone, and not offering to move; 5' I dare say your watch is quite right. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.