The Project Gutenberg eBook of Johnny Ludlow, First Series, by Mrs. Henry Wood.

[1] A small plain bun sold in Worcester.

[2] A superstition obtaining amongst some of the lower orders in France.

[3] Written for the January number of The Argosy, 1872.

[4] The old East window: not the new one.

LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.

THE NEW ISSUE OF

Mrs. HENRY WOOD’S NOVELS

is now being published in uniform Volumes, crown 8vo., bound in cloth, price 2s. each, at monthly intervals.

Each Volume can be obtained separately at any Bookseller’s, or the names of Subscribers to the entire Series will be registered for the delivery of a Volume each Month. The “Johnny Ludlow” Papers are included in this Series.

EAST LYNNE.

FOUR HUNDREDTH THOUSAND.

“‘East Lynne’ is so full of incident, so exciting in every page, and so admirably written, that one hardly knows how to go to bed without reading to the very last page.”—The Observer.

“A work of remarkable power which displays a force of description and a dramatic completeness we have seldom seen surpassed. The interest of the narrative intensifies itself to the deepest pathos. The closing scene is in the highest degree tragic, and the whole management of the story exhibits unquestionable genius and originality.”—The Daily News.

“‘East Lynne’ has been translated into the Hindustani and Parsee languages, and the success of it has been very great.”—Daniel Bandmann’s Journal.

THE CHANNINGS.

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH THOUSAND.

“‘The Channings’ will probably be read over and over again, and it can never be read too often.”—The Athenæum.

MRS. HALLIBURTON’S TROUBLES.

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTIETH THOUSAND.

“The boldness, originality, and social scrutiny displayed in this work remind the reader of Adam Bede. It would be difficult to place beside the death of Edgar Halliburton anything in fiction comparable with its profound pathos and simplicity. It is long since the novel-reading world has had reason so thoroughly to congratulate itself upon the appearance of a new work as in the instance of ‘Mrs. Halliburton’s Troubles.’ It is a fine work; a great and artistic picture.”—The Morning Post.

THE SHADOW OF ASHLYDYAT.

SEVENTY-SEVENTH THOUSAND.

“‘The Shadow of Ashlydyat’ is very clever, and keeps up the constant interest of the reader. It has a slight supernatural tinge, which gives the romantic touch to the story which Sir Walter Scott so often used with even greater effect; but it is not explained away at the end as Sir Walter Scott’s supernatural touches generally, and inartistically, were.”—The Spectator.

“The genius of Mrs. Henry Wood shines as brightly as ever. There is a scene or two between Maria Godolphin and her little girl just before she dies, which absolutely melt the heart. The death-bed scene likewise is exquisitely pathetic.”—The Court Journal.

LORD OAKBURN’S DAUGHTERS.

SEVENTY-SEVENTH THOUSAND.

“The story is admirably told.”—The Spectator.

VERNER’S PRIDE.

SIXTY-FIFTH THOUSAND.

“‘Verner’s Pride’ is a first-rate novel in its breadth of outline and brilliancy of description. Its exciting events, its spirited scenes, and its vivid details, all contribute to its triumph. The interest this work awakens, and the admiration it excites in the minds of its readers, must infallibly tend to the renown of the writer, while they herald the welcome reception of the work wherever skill in construction of no ordinary kind, or a ready appreciation of character, which few possess, can arouse attention or win regard.”—The Sun.

ROLAND YORKE.

ONE HUNDREDTH THOUSAND.

“In all respects worthy of the hand that wrote ‘The Channings’ and ‘East Lynne.’ There is no lack of excitement to wile the reader on, and from the first to the last a well-planned story is sustained with admirable spirit and in a masterly style.”—The Daily News.

JOHNNY LUDLOW.

The First Series.

FIFTIETH THOUSAND.

“We regard these stories as almost perfect of their kind.”—Spectator.

“Fresh, lively, vigorous, and full of clever dialogue, they will meet with a ready welcome. The Author is masterly in the skill with which she manages her successive dramas.”—Standard.

“It is an agreeable change to come upon a book like Johnny Ludlow.”—Saturday Review.

“Vigour of description and a strong grasp of character.”—Athenæum.

“The Author has given proof of a rarer dramatic instinct than we had suspected among our living writers of fiction.”—Noncomformist.

“Tales full of interest.”—Vanity Fair.

“Fresh, clear, simple, strong in purpose and in execution, these stories have won admiration as true works of inventive art. Without a single exception they maintain a powerful hold on the mind of the reader, and keep his sympathies in a continued state of healthy excitement.”—Daily Telegraph.

MILDRED ARKELL.

FIFTIETH THOUSAND.

“Mrs. Henry Wood certainly possesses in a wholly exceptional degree the power of uniting the most startling incident of supernatural influence with a certain probability and naturalness which compels the most critical and sceptical reader, having once begun, to go on reading.... He finds himself conciliated by some bit of quiet picture, some accent of poetic tenderness, some sweet domestic touch telling of a heart exercised in the rarer experiences; and as he proceeds he wonders more and more at the manner in which the mystery, the criminality, the plotting, and the murdering reconciles itself with a quiet sense of the justice of things; and a great moral lesson is, after all, found to lie in the heart of all the turmoil and exciting scene-shifting. It is this which has earned for Mrs. Wood so high a place among popular novelists, and secured her admittance to homes from which the sensational novelists so-called are excluded.”—The Noncomformist.

10.

SAINT MARTIN’S EVE.

FORTY-FIFTH THOUSAND.

“A good novel.”—The Spectator.

“Mrs. Wood has spared no pains to accumulate the materials for a curiously thrilling story.”—The Saturday Review.

11.

TREVLYN HOLD.

FORTIETH THOUSAND.

“We cannot read a page of this work without discovering a graphic force of delineation which it would not be easy to surpass.”—The Daily News.

12.

GEORGE CANTERBURY’S WILL.

FIFTIETH THOUSAND.

“The name of Mrs. Henry Wood has been familiar to novel-readers for many years, and her fame widens and strengthens with the increase in the number of her books.”—The Morning Post.

13.

THE RED COURT FARM.

FORTY-FOURTH THOUSAND.

“When we say that a plot displays Mrs. Wood’s well-known skill in construction, our readers will quite understand that their attention will be enchained by it from the first page to the last.”—The Weekly Dispatch.

14.

WITHIN THE MAZE.

SIXTY-FIFTH THOUSAND.

“The decided novelty and ingenuity of the plot of ‘Within the Maze’ renders it, in our eyes, one of Mrs. Henry Wood’s best novels. It is excellently developed, and the interest hardly flags for a moment.”—The Graphic.

15.

ELSTER’S FOLLY.

THIRTY-FIFTH THOUSAND.

“Mrs. Wood fulfils all the requisites of a good novelist: she interests people in her books, makes them anxious about the characters, and furnishes an intricate and carefully woven plot.”—The Morning Post.

16.

LADY ADELAIDE.

THIRTY-FIFTH THOUSAND.

“One of Mrs. Henry Wood’s best novels.”—The Star.

“Mme. Henry Wood est fort célèbre en Angleterre, et ses romans—très moraux et très bien écrits—sont dans toutes les mains et revivent dans toutes les mémoires. Le serment de lady Adelaïde donneront à nos lecteurs une idée très suffisante du talent si élevé de mistress Henry Wood.”—L’Instruction Publique.

17.

OSWALD CRAY.

THIRTY-SEVENTH THOUSAND.

“Mrs. Wood has certainly an art of novel-writing which no rival possesses in the same degree and kind. It is not, we fancy, a common experience for any one to leave one of these novels unfinished.”—The Spectator.

18.

JOHNNY LUDLOW.

The Second Series.

TWENTY-THIRD THOUSAND.

“The author has given proof of a rarer dramatic instinct than we had suspected among our living writers of fiction. It is not possible by means of extracts to convey any adequate sense of the humour, the pathos, the dramatic power and graphic description of this book.”—The Noncomformist.

“Mrs. Henry Wood has made a welcome addition to the list of the works of contemporary fiction.”—Athenæum (second notice).

“These most exquisite studies.”—Noncomformist (second notice).

“These tales are delightful from their unaffected and sometimes pathetic simplicity.”—Standard (second notice).

“To write a short story really well is the most difficult part of the art of fiction; and ‘Johnny Ludlow’ has succeeded in it in such a manner that his—or rather her—art looks like nature, and is hardly less surprising for its excellence than for the fertility of invention on which it is founded.”—Globe.

“Freshness of tone, briskness of movement, vigour, reality, humour, pathos. It is safe to affirm that there is not a single story which will not be read with pleasure by both sexes, of all ages.”—Illustrated London News.

19.

ANNE HEREFORD.

THIRTY-FIFTH THOUSAND.

“Mrs. Wood’s story, ‘Anne Hereford,’ is a favourable specimen of her manner; the incidents are well planned, and the narrative is easy and vigorous.”—The Illustrated London News.

20.

DENE HOLLOW.

THIRTY-FIFTH THOUSAND.

“Novel-readers wishing to be entertained, and deeply interested in character and incident, will find their curiosity wholesomely gratified by the graphic pages of ‘Dene Hollow,’ an excellent novel, without the drawbacks of wearisome digressions and monotonous platitudes so common in the chapters of modern fiction.”—The Morning Post.

21.

EDINA.

TWENTY-FIFTH THOUSAND.

“The whole situation of the book is clever, and the plot is well managed.”—Academy.

“Edina’s character is beautifully drawn.”—The Literary World.

22.

A LIFE’S SECRET.

THIRTY-EIGHTH THOUSAND.

“Now that the rights of capital and labour are being fully inquired into, Mrs. Wood’s story of a ‘A Life’s Secret’ is particularly opportune and interesting. It is based upon a plot that awakens curiosity and keeps it alive throughout. The hero and heroine are marked with individuality, the love-passages are finely drawn, and the story developed with judgment.”—The Civil Service Gazette.

“If Mrs. Wood’s book does not tend to eradicate the cowardice, folly, and slavish submission to lazy agitators among the working men, all we can say is that it ought to do so, for it is at once well written, effective, and truthful.”—The Illustrated Times.

23.

COURT NETHERLEIGH.

TWENTY-SIXTH THOUSAND.

“We always open one of Mrs. Wood’s novels with pleasure, because we are sure of being amused and interested.”—The Times.

“Lisez-le; l’émotion que vous sentirez peu à peu monter à votre cœur est saine et fortifiante. Lisez-le; c’est un livre honnête sorti d’une plume honnête et vous pourrez le laisser traîner sur la table.”—Le Signal (Paris).

24.

LADY GRACE.

SIXTEENTH THOUSAND.

“Lady Grace worthily continues a series of novels thoroughly English in feeling and sentiment, and which fairly illustrate many phases of our national life.”—Morning Post.

25.

BESSY RANE.

THIRTIETH THOUSAND.

“The power to draw minutely and carefully each character with characteristic individuality in word and action is Mrs. Wood’s especial gift. This endows her pages with a vitality which carries the reader to the end, and leaves him with the feeling that the veil which in real life separates man from man has been raised, and that he has for once seen and known certain people as intimately as if he had been their guardian angel. This is a great fascination.”—The Athenæum.

26.

PARKWATER.

TWENTIETH THOUSAND.

“Mrs. Wood’s pleasant style and vivid imagination were never more pleasantly manifested.”—John Bull.

27.

THE UNHOLY WISH, Etc.

“The characters and situations of which the author made her books are, indeed, beyond criticism; their interest has been proved by the experience of generations.”—Pall-Mall Gazette.

28.

JOHNNY LUDLOW.

The Third Series.

“The peculiar and unfailing charm of Mrs. Wood’s style has rarely been more apparent than in this succession of chronicles, partly of rustic life, some relating to the fortunes of persons in a higher class, but all remarkable for an easy simplicity of tone, true to nature.”—Morning Post.

29.

THE MASTER OF GREYLANDS.

THIRTIETH THOUSAND.

“A book by Mrs. Wood is sure to be a good one, and no one who opens ‘The Master of Greylands’ in anticipation of an intellectual treat will be disappointed. The keen analysis of character, and the admirable management of the plot, alike attest the clever novelist.”—John Bull.

30.

ORVILLE COLLEGE.

THIRTY-THIRD THOUSAND.

“Mrs. Wood’s stories bear the impress of her versatile talent and well-known skill in turning to account the commonplaces of daily life as well as the popular superstitions of the multitude.”—The Literary World.

31.

POMEROY ABBEY.

THIRTIETH THOUSAND.

“All the Pomeroys are very cleverly individualised, and the way in which the mystery is worked up, including its one horribly tragic incident, is really beyond all praise.”—The Morning Post.

32.

JOHNNY LUDLOW.

Fourth Series.

“Fresh, clear, simple, strong in purpose and in execution, these stories have won admiration as true works of inventive art. Without a single exception they maintain a powerful hold upon the mind of the reader, and keep his sympathies in a continued state of healthy excitement.”—Daily Telegraph.

33.

ADAM GRAINGER, Etc.

“Mrs. Wood fulfils all the requisites of a good novelist; she interests people in her books, makes them anxious about the characters, and furnishes an intricate and carefully-woven plot.”—Morning Post.

34.

JOHNNY LUDLOW.

Fifth Series.

LONDON:
RICHARD BENTLEY & SON, New Burlington Street.
And to be obtained at all Booksellers’ in Town and Country.