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The Law and the Lady

English BooksWhale Edition by Wilkie Collins

A sensation novel of marriage, legal injustice, investigation, female agency, secrets, and courtroom memory.

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The Law and the Lady

The Law and the Lady follows Valeria as she investigates her husband’s past and challenges the limits of Victorian law and domestic secrecy. Wilkie Collins blends mystery, legal drama, and social critique in this English public-domain edition.

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Why this edition can be shared

Wilkie Collins died in 1889, and The Law and the Lady was first published in 1875. These dates support the public-domain basis for this English original edition.

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The Law and the Lady

Wilkie Collins by Wilkie Collins

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NOTE:

Preview chapterADDRESSED TO THE READER.Preview

IN offering this book to you, I have no Preface to write. I have only to request that you will bear in mind certain established truths, which occasionally escape your memory when you are reading a work of fiction. Be pleased, then, to remember (First): That the actions of human beings are not invariably governed by the laws of pure reason. (Secondly): That we are by no means always in the habit of bestowing our love on the objects which are the most deserving of it, in the opinions of our friends. (Thirdly and Lastly): That Characters which may not have appeared, and Events which may not have taken place, within the limits of our own individual experience, may nevertheless be perfectly natural Characters and perfectly probable Events, for all that. Having said these few words, I have said all that seems to be necessary at the present time, in presenting my new Story to your notice.

W. C.

Table of contents

Inside this edition

  1. 01Full text
  2. 02NOTE:
  3. 03ADDRESSED TO THE READER.
  4. 04PART I. PARADISE LOST.
  5. 05CHAPTER I. THE BRIDE’S MISTAKE.
  6. 06CHAPTER II. THE BRIDE’S THOUGHTS.
  7. 07“LAWRENCE FITZ-DAVID.”
  8. 08CHAPTER III. RAMSGATE SANDS.
  9. 09CHAPTER IV. ON THE WAY HOME.
  10. 10CHAPTER V. THE LANDLADY’S DISCOVERY.
  11. 11CHAPTER VI. MY OWN DISCOVERY.
  12. 12CHAPTER VII. ON THE WAY TO THE MAJOR.
  13. 13CHAPTER VIII. THE FRIEND OF THE WOMEN.
  14. 14CHAPTER IX. THE DEFEAT OF THE MAJOR.
  15. 15CHAPTER X. THE SEARCH.
  16. 16A COMPLETE REPORT OF THE TRIAL OF EUSTACE MACALLAN.
  17. 17FOR THE ALLEGED POISONING OF HIS WIFE.
  18. 18CHAPTER XI. THE RETURN TO LIFE.
  19. 19CHAPTER XII. THE SCOTCH VERDICT.
  20. 20CHAPTER XIII. THE MAN’S DECISION.
  21. 21“EUSTACE MACALLAN.”
  22. 22CHAPTER XIV. THE WOMAN’S ANSWER.
  23. 23“VALERIA.”
  24. 24PART II. PARADISE REGAINED.
  25. 25CHAPTER XV. THE STORY OF THE TRIAL. THE PRELIMINARIES.
  26. 26THE LORD JUSTICE CLERK,}
  27. 27LORD NOBLEKIRK, }
  28. 28MR. THORNIEBANK, W. S.,}
  29. 29CHAPTER XVI. FIRST QUESTION--DID THE WOMAN DIE POISONED?
  30. 30CHAPTER XVII. SECOND QUESTION--WHO POISONED HER?
  31. 31CHAPTER XVIII. THIRD QUESTION--WHAT WAS HIS MOTIVE?
  32. 32“HELENA.”
  33. 33CHAPTER XIX. THE EVIDENCE FOR THE DEFENSE.
  34. 34“MISERRIMUS DEXTER”
  35. 35CHAPTER XX. THE END OF THE TRIAL.
  36. 36CHAPTER XXI. I SEE MY WAY.
  37. 37CHAPTER XXII. THE MAJOR MAKES DIFFICULTIES.
  38. 38CHAPTER XXIII
  39. 39MY MOTHER-IN-LAW SURPRISES ME.
  40. 40CHAPTER XXIV. MISERRIMUS DEXTER--FIRST VIEW.
  41. 41CHAPTER XXV. MISERRIMUS DEXTER--SECOND VIEW
  42. 42CHAPTER XXVI. MORE OF MY OBSTINACY.
  43. 43CHAPTER XXVII. MR. DEXTER AT HOME.
  44. 44CHAPTER XXVIII. IN THE DARK.
  45. 45CHAPTER XXIX. IN THE LIGHT.
  46. 46CHAPTER XXX. THE INDICTMENT OF MRS. BEAULY.
  47. 47CHAPTER XXXI. THE DEFENSE OF MRS. BEAULY.
  48. 48CHAPTER XXXII. A SPECIMEN OF MY WISDOM.
  49. 49CHAPTER XXXIII. A SPECIMEN OF MY FOLLY.
  50. 50part of my report, and if he pass many hours of every day quietly in the
  51. 51CHAPTER XXXIV. GLENINCH.
  52. 52CHAPTER XXXV. MR. PLAYMORE’S PROPHECY.
  53. 53CHAPTER XXXVI. ARIEL.
  54. 54“MISERRIMUS DEXTER.”
  55. 55scene was too familiar to me to be easily dismissed. I had myself
  56. 56CHAPTER XXXVII. AT THE BEDSIDE.
  57. 57CHAPTER XXXVIII. ON THE JOURNEY BACK.
  58. 58CHAPTER XXXIX. ON THE WAY TO DEXTER.
  59. 59CHAPTER XL. NEMESIS AT LAST.
  60. 60CHAPTER XLI. MR. PLAYMORE IN A NEW CHARACTER.
  61. 61CHAPTER XLII. MORE SURPRISES.
  62. 62“CATHERINE MACALLAN.”
  63. 63CHAPTER XLIII. AT LAST!
  64. 64CHAPTER XLIV. OUR NEW HONEYMOON.
  65. 65CHAPTER XLV. THE DUST-HEAP DISTURBED.
  66. 66scene was too vivid to require any prompting of that sort. I saw again,
  67. 67CHAPTER XLVI. THE CRISIS DEFERRED.
  68. 68CHAPTER XLVII. THE WIFE’S CONFESSION.
  69. 69“MY HUSBAND--
  70. 70“SARA MACALLAN.” *
  71. 71CHAPTER XLVIII. WHAT ELSE COULD I DO?
  72. 72CHAPTER XLIX. PAST AND FUTURE.
  73. 73scene at Benjamin’s house (Chapter XXXV.), where Dexter, in a moment of
  74. 74CHAPTER L.
  75. 75THE LAST OF THE STORY.

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