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Transcriber's Note:

  Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original book have
  been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
  The book frequently omits punctuation before quotes. The punctuation
  has been retained as in the original. The length and spacing of
  ellipses (...) has also been retained as printed.

  There is no Chapter IV.

  Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.




  [Illustration: _Elizabeth_.]




     THE
     ORDEAL OF
     ELIZABETH


     NEW YORK
     GROSSET & DUNLAP
     PUBLISHERS




     COPYRIGHT, 1901, BY
     J. F. TAYLOR AND
     COMPANY, NEW YORK




     THE ORDEAL
     OF
     ELIZABETH




_Chapter I_


The Van Vorst Homestead stands close to the road-side; a dark,
low-built, gloomy old place. The horse-shoe on the door, testifies to
its age, and the devout superstition of the Van Vorst who built it.
However effectual against witches, the horse-shoe cannot be said to
have brought much luck otherwise. The Van Vorsts who lived there, a
junior branch of the old colonial house, did not prosper in worldly
matters, but sank more and more as time went on, in general respect
and consideration.

There was a break in the deterioration, and apparently a revival of
old glories, when Peter Van Vorst married his cousin, a brilliant
beauty from town, who had refused, as tradition asserts, half the
eligible men of her day, and accepted Peter for what seemed a sudden
and mysterious caprice. The marriage was a nine days' wonder; but
whatever the reasons that prompted her strange choice