The Legacy of Cain

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Legacy of Cain, by Wilkie Collins

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Title: The Legacy of Cain

Author: Wilkie Collins

Release Date: October 15, 2008 [EBook #1975]

Language: English

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LEGACY OF CAIN ***

Produced by James Rusk, and David Widger

THE LEGACY OF CAIN

By Wilkie Collins

To

MRS. HENRY POWELL BARTLEY:

Permit me to add your name to my name, in publishing this novel. The pen which has written my books cannot be more agreeably employed than in acknowledging what I owe to the pen which has skillfully and patiently helped me, by copying my manuscripts for the printer.

WILKIE COLLINS.

Wimpole Street, 6th December, 1888.

Contents

THE LEGACY OF CAIN.

First Period: 1858-1859. EVENTS IN THE PRISON, RELATED BY THE GOVERNOR.

CHAPTER I. THE GOVERNOR EXPLAINS.

CHAPTER II. THE MURDERESS ASKS QUESTIONS.

CHAPTER III. THE CHILD APPEARS.

CHAPTER IV. THE MINISTER SAYS YES.

CHAPTER V. MISS CHANCE ASSERTS HERSELF.

CHAPTER VI. THE DOCTOR DOUBTS.

CHAPTER VII. THE MURDERESS CONSULTS THE AUTHORITIES.

CHAPTER VIII. THE MINISTER SAYS GOOD-BY.

CHAPTER IX. THE GOVERNOR RECEIVES A VISIT.

CHAPTER X. MISS CHANCE REAPPEARS.

Second Period: 1875. THE GIRLS AND THE JOURNALS.

CHAPTER XI. HELENA'S DIARY.

CHAPTER XII. EUNICE'S DIARY.

CHAPTER XIII. EUNICE'S DIARY.

CHAPTER XIV. HELENA'S DIARY.

CHAPTER XV. HELENA'S DIARY.

CHAPTER XVI. HELENA'S DIARY.

CHAPTER XVII. HELENA'S DIARY.

CHAPTER XVIII. EUNICE'S DIARY.

CHAPTER XIX. EUNICE'S DIARY.

CHAPTER XX. EUNICE'S DIARY.

CHAPTER XXI. HELENA'S DIARY.

CHAPTER XXII. EUNICE'S DIARY.

CHAPTER XXIII. EUNICE'S DIARY.

CHAPTER XXIV. EUNICE'S DIARY.

CHAPTER XXV. HELENA'S DIARY.

CHAPTER XXVI. HELENA'S DIARY.

CHAPTER XXVII. EUNICE'S DIARY.

CHAPTER XXVIII. HELENA'S DIARY.

CHAPTER XXIX. HELENA'S DIARY.

CHAPTER XXX. EUNICE'S DIARY.

CHAPTER XXXI. EUNICE'S DIARY.

CHAPTER XXXII. THE MIDDLE-AGED LADY.

CHAPTER XXXIII. THE MINISTER'S MISFORTUNE.

CHAPTER XXXIV. THE LIVELY OLD MAID.

CHAPTER XXXV. THE FUTURE LOOKS GLOOMY.

CHAPTER XXXVI. THE WANDERING MIND.

CHAPTER XXXVII. THE SHAMELESS SISTER.

CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE GIRLS' AGES.

CHAPTER XXXIX. THE ADOPTED CHILD

CHAPTER XL. THE BRUISED HEART.

CHAPTER XLI. THE WHISPERING VOICE.

CHAPTER XLII. THE QUAINT PHILOSOPHER.

CHAPTER XLIII. THE MASTERFUL MASSEUSE.

CHAPTER XLIV. THE RESURRECTION OF THE PAST.

CHAPTER XLV. THE FATAL PORTRAIT.

CHAPTER XLVI. THE CUMBERSOME LADIES.

CHAPTER XLVII. THE JOURNEY TO THE FARM.

CHAPTER XLVIII. THE DECISION OF EUNICE.

CHAPTER XLIX. THE GOVERNOR ON HIS GUARD.

CHAPTER L. THE NEWS FROM THE FARM.

CHAPTER LI. THE TRIUMPH OF MRS. TENBRUGGEN.

Third period: 1876. HELENA'S DIARY RESUMED.

CHAPTER LII. HELENA'S DIARY RESUMED.

CHAPTER LIII. HELENA'S DIARY RESUMED.

CHAPTER LIV. HELENA'S DIARY RESUMED.

CHAPTER LV. HELENA'S DIARY RESUMED.

CHAPTER LVI. HELENA'S DIARY RESUMED.

CHAPTER LVII. HELENA'S DIARY RESUMED.

CHAPTER LVIII. DANGER.

CHAPTER LIX. DEFENSE.

CHAPTER LX. DISCOVERY.

CHAPTER LXI. ATROCITY.

CHAPTER LXII. THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED.

CHAPTER LXIII. THE OBSTACLE REMOVED.

CHAPTER LXIV. THE TRUTH TRIUMPHANT.

POSTSCRIPT.

THE LEGACY OF CAIN.

First Period: 1858-1859. EVENTS IN THE PRISON, RELATED BY THE GOVERNOR.

CHAPTER I. THE GOVERNOR EXPLAINS.

At the request of a person who has claims on me that I must not disown, I consent to look back through a long interval of years and to describe events which took place within the walls of an English prison during the earlier period of my appointment as Governor.

Viewing my task by the light which later experience casts on it, I think I shall act wisely by exercising some control over the freedom of my pen.

I propose to pass over in silence the name of the town in which is situated the prison once confided to my care. I shall observe a similar discretion in alluding to individuals—some dead, some living, at the present time.

Being obliged to write of a woman who deservedly suffered the extreme penalty of the law, I think she will be sufficiently identified if I call her The Prisoner. Of the four persons present on the evening before her execution three may be distinguished one from the other by allusion to their vocations in life. I here introduce them as The Chaplain, The Minister, and The Doctor. The fourth was a young woman. She has no claim on my consideration; and, when she is mentioned, her name may appear. If these reserves excite suspicion, I declare beforehand that they influence in no way the sense of responsibility which commands an honest man to speak the truth.