



Produced by Daniel Fromont









The Life and Amours

OF THE

Beautiful, Gay and Dashing

Kate Percival

The Belle of the Delaware

Written by herself



Voluptuous, Exciting, Amorous and Delighting



LONDON - PARIS

1903





VOLUME ONE





Chapter I

CHILDHOOD



I am about to do a bold thing. I am about to give to the world the
particulars of a life fraught with incident and adventure. I am about
to lift the veil from the most voluptuous scenes. I shall disguise
nothing, conceal nothing, but shall relate everything that has happened
to me just as it occurred. I am what is called a woman of pleasure, and
have drained its cup to the very dregs. I have the most extraordinary
scenes to depict, but although I shall place everything before the
reader in the most explicit language, I shall be careful not to wound
his or her sense of decency by the use of coarse words, feeling
satisfied there is more charm in a story decently told than in the bold
unblushing use of term which ought never to sully a woman's lips.

I was born in a small village in the state of Pennsylvania, situated on
the banks of the Delaware, and about thirty miles from Philadelphia. My
father's house was most romantically situated within a few yards of the
river. It was supported as it were, at the back by a high hill, which,
in summer was covered with green trees and bushes. On each side of the
dwelling was a wood so dense and thick that a stranger un-acquainted
with the paths through it could not enter. In front of the house, the
river on sunshiny days gleamed and glistened in the rays of the sun,
and the white sails passing and repassing formed quite a picturesque
scene. At night, however, especially in the winter time, the scene was
different. Then the wind would howl and moan through the leafless trees
and the river would beat against the rocks in a most mournful cadence.
To this day I can remember the effect it had on my youthful mind, and
whenever I hear the wind whistling at night, it always recalls, to my
memory my birth place.

My father was a stern, austere man, usually very silent and reserved. I
only remembered seeing him excited once or twice. My mother had died in
my infancy--(I was but fifteen months at the time) and my father's
sister became his housekeeper. I had but one brother a year older than
myself. How well I remember him, a fine noble-hearted boy full of love
and affection. We were neglected by our father and aunt, and left to
get through our childhood's days as best we could. We would wander
together hand in hand by the river side or in the woods, and often cry
ourselves to sleep in each other's arms at our father's want of
affection for us. We enjoyed none of the gayeties, none of the sports
of youth. The chill of our home appeared to follow us wherever we went,
and no matter how brightly the sun shone, it could not dissipate the
chill around our hearts. I never remember seeing my father even smile.
A continual gloom hung over him, and he usually kept himself locked in
his room except at meal times.

This life continued until I was ten years of age, when one day my
father informed me that the next day I was to go to Philadelphia to a
boarding school. At first I was glad to hear it, for any change from
the dull monotony of that solitary house must be an agreeable one to
me. I ran to the garden to tell my brother; but the moment I mentioned
it, Harry threw himself sobbing in my arms.

"Will you leave me, Kate!" he exclaimed, "What will I do when you are
gone, I shall be so lonely--so very lonely without you?"

"But Harry, darling," I returned, "I shall be back again in a few
months, and then I shall have so much to tell you, and we shall have
such nice walks together."

I succeeded in calming him, especially as our father informed him
before the day was over that he too was to go to a boarding school in
the city of Baltimore. That evening we took our last ramble together
before we left home. It was the month of June, and all nature was
decked in her gayest apparel. It was a beautiful moon-light night, and
the hair [sic] was fragrant with the odor of June roses, of which there
were a large number in the garden. We wandered by the side of the river
and watched the moon rays playing on the surface of the water, while a
gentle breeze murmured softly through the pine trees. On that evening
we settled our future life. It was arranged between us that when Harry
grew up to be a man I should go and keep his house. We dwelt a long
time on the pleasures of such life. At last it was time for us to
return to the house, we embraced each other tenderly and separated.

The next morning I left very early, and in a few hours reached my
destination and was enrolled among the pupils of B.... Seminary, I
shall not dwell long on my school days, although I might devote much of
space to them. I was not a popular girl in the school--I was too cold,
too reserved, and some of the girls said too proud. I took no pleasure
in girlish sports, but my chief amusement was reading. I would retire
to a corner of the school room and while the other girls were at
play--I would be plunged in the mysteries of Mrs. Radcliffs novels,