Chapter I: Front Matter

THE LADY OF THE ISLE;
OR,
THE ISLAND PRINCESS.

BY

MRS. EMMA D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH.

AUTHOR OF “MIRIAM, THE AVENGER; OR, THE MISSING BRIDE,” “A BEAUTIFUL
FIEND,” “HOW HE WON HER,” “RETRIBUTION,” “CHANGED BRIDES,” “TRIED FOR
HER LIFE,” “BRIDE’S FATE,” “WIDOW’S SON,” “A NOBLE LORD,” “CRUEL AS THE
GRAVE,” “FORTUNE SEEKER,” “ALLWORTH ABBEY,” “LOST HEIRESS,” “FAMILY
DOOM,” “THE ARTIST’S LOVE,” “GIPSY’S PROPHECY,” “HAUNTED HOMESTEAD,”
“FALLEN PRIDE,” “VICTOR’S TRIUMPH,” “THE CURSE OF CLIFTON,” “THE SPECTRE
LOVER,” “MAIDEN WIDOW,” “TWO SISTERS,” “BRIDAL EVE,” “FAIR PLAY,” “THE
FATAL MARRIAGE,” “PRINCE OF DARKNESS,” “BRIDE OF LLEWELLYN,”
“MOTHER-IN-LAW,” “DESERTED WIFE,” “INDIA,” “DISCARDED DAUGHTER,” “WIFE’S
VICTORY,” “LOVE’S LABOR WON,” “THREE BEAUTIES,” “THE CHRISTMAS GUEST,”
“VIVIA,” “LOST HEIR OF LINLITHGOW,” ETC.

“_’Tis strange, but true; for truth is always strange,
Stranger than fiction. If it could be told,
How much would fiction gain by the exchange!
How differently the world would men behold!_”—BYRON.

“_With caution judge of probability,
Things deemed unlikely, e’en impossible,
Experience oft hath proven to be true._”—SHAKSPEARE.

PHILADELPHIA:
T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS;
306 CHESTNUT STREET.

A WORD TO THE READER.

In offering you this, the most singular romance that I have ever written, I feel constrained to say, that the most remarkable characters and incidents here exhibited, are drawn from well-known persons and events of real life. These circumstances are here presented with only such judicious change of times, places, and proper names, as is dictated by the prudence and delicacy which also withholds me from pointing out more definitely the sources whence they were derived.

E. D. E. N. S.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER. PAGE
I. An Interrupted Wedding, 29
II. The Arrested Bride, 72
III. The World, 89
IV. Estelle, 102
V. The Assizes, 123
VI. The Arraignment, 134
VII. The Flight of Estelle, 156
VIII. The Forsaken, 166
IX. Shipwreck, 179
X. Recognition of the Dead Body, 196
XI. His Majesty the King of the Isle, 203
XII. The Skipper’s Daughter, 228
XIII. The Island Princess, 238
XIV. Barbara Brande, 248
XV. The Girl-Captain, 264
XVI. Pursuit, 279
XVII. Captain Barbara’s First Voyage, 285
XVIII. The Recluse, 298
XIX. The Grave-Yard Ghost, 314
XX. Lord Montressor’s Arrival, 327
XXI. The Last Struggle, 334
XXII. Julius Luxmore, 348
XXIII. Etoile L’Orient, 354
XXIV. Barbara’s Voyage, 375
XXV. Glorious Uncertainty of the Law, 383
XXVI. Christmas in the Village, 397
XXVII. Christmas in the Desolate House, 402
XXVIII. The Evening Feast, 410
XXIX. Captain Barbara may be a Baroness, 420
XXX. Captain Barbara’s Second Voyage, 428
XXXI. The Dreary Headland, 439
XXXII. The Flight from the Headland, 451
XXXIII. The Passage of Years, 456
XXXIV. The Heiress of the Isle, 460
XXXV. Euthanasy, 465
XXXVI. Etoile comes into her Estate, 469
XXXVII. Etoile Left Alone, 474
XXXVIII. The Solitary Maiden, 479
XXXIX. Estelle’s Home, 486
XL. Meeting with an Old Friend, 507
XLI. A Waiting Bride, 515
XLII. What the Sea gave to Etoile, 529
XLIII. Love, 538
XLIV. The Attempted Flight of Etoile, 546
XLV. The Rivals, 557
XLVI. Plots and Counter Plots, 569
XLVII. The Re-union, 593

THE

LADY OF THE ISLE.