

E-text prepared by Suzanne Lybarger, Mary Meehan, and the Project
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THE DUCHESS OF WREXE

Her Decline and Death

A Romantic Commentary

by

HUGH WALPOLE

Author of "Fortitude," etc.







New York
George H. Doran Company

Copyright, 1914,
By George H. Doran Company




           TO
        MY MOTHER
A SMALL EXPRESSION OF GRATITUDE
       BEYOND WORDS


    "And we'll have fires out of the Grand Duke's Wood."
    _Letter to Maria Gisborne_




THE RISING CITY: I

THE DUCHESS OF WREXE

_NOTE: This is an age of Trilogies and Sequels. The title at the
beginning of this book, "The Rising City: I," may lead nervous readers
to fear yet another attempt in that extended and discursive direction_.

_To reassure them I wish to emphasize this point--that_ The Duchess of
Wrexe _is entirely a novel complete and independent in itself. It is
grouped, with the two stories that will follow it, under the heading of
"The Rising City" because the three novels will be connected in place,
in idea, and in sequence of time. Also certain of the same characters
will appear in all three books. But the novels are not intended as
sequels of one another, nor is "The Rising City" a Trilogy.--H. W._




CONTENTS


BOOK I: THE DUCHESS

       I Felix Brun, Dr. Christopher, Rachel Beaminster--They
         Are Surveyed by the Portrait

      II Rachel

     III Lady Adela

      IV The Pool

       V She Comes Out

      VI Fans

     VII In the Heart of the House

   