Leah Mordecai
Abbott, Belle K. (Belle Kendrick)
English
We will print you a perfectly bound paperback of your selected title and send it to you at your nominated address
Below is a summary of Leah Mordecai
This eBook was edited by Charles Aldarondo (www.aldarondo.net).
LEAH MORDECAI. A NOVEL.
BY MRS. BELLE KENDRICK ABBOTT.
NEW YORK:
1856.
TO MY BELOVED UNCLE,
THE REV. J. RYLAND KENDRICK, D.D.,
WHOSE HOSPITABLE HOME I ONCE SPENT MANY HAPPY
DAYS--DAYS MADE FOR EVER BRIGHT BY THE LOVE
OF HIS GREAT HEART, LOVE THAT FLOWED LIKE
A PURE STREAM FROM A CRYSTAL FOUNTAIN,
ABOUND AND ABOUT MY YOUNG LIFE--
THIS BOOK IS MOST TENDERLY
INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR.
ATLANTA, GA, November, 1875.
LEAH MORDECAI.
CHAPTER I.
THE giant clock on the wall in the assembly-room of Madam Truxton's
fashionable school had marked the hour for dismission.
Groups of restless, anxious pupils stood about the apartment, or
were gathered at the windows, watching the rain that had been
falling in copious showers since morning. All were eager to go, yet
none dared brave the storm.
Under the stone archway of the entrance to the assembly-hall, a
group of four maidens stood chatting, apart from the rest, watching
the rain, and impatient for its cessation.
"I know my father will either send my brother, or come for me
himself," said Helen Le Grande, "so I need not fear the rain." Then,
turning to the soft-eyed Jewess who stood by her side, she added,
"When the carriage comes, Leah, you can take a seat with me. I'll
see that you are safely deposited at home."
"Thank you, Helen, but it won't hurt me to walk. Nothing hurts
me--Leah Mordecai the despised." Then, averting her face, the young
girl gazed abstractedly into the street, and began humming in a low
tone.
To these words of the young Jewess there was no reply. A certain
sort of emphasis in her utterance seemed to forbid any inquiry, and
silence any word of censure that might arise to the lips of her
companions.
"How mean of me, not to offer a seat in the carriage to Lizzie
Heartwell, too," thought Helen after a moment's reflection; "but I
dared not, on account of my brother, who has so repeatedly urged me
to make equals only of the rich. He little knows how I love Lizzie
Heartwell, and whether she be rich or poor I know not, neither do I
care."
"I say, girls," at length broke the silence, as the fourth member of
the group, Bertha Levy, a Jewess too, spoke out, "think how stupid I
am. Mamma has promised me a small tea-party to-morrow night, and
this wretched rain had well-nigh caused me to forget it; but, thank
fortune, it's giving way a little, and maybe we shall all get home
after awhile. I'm desperately hungry! Of course, you will all
promise me to come, and I shall expect you." Then, turning to Helen,
she said, "Won't you?"
Helen assented.
"And you, Leah?"
"I will if I can. I am never sure of my movements, however."
"And you, dear Lizzie?"
"With the permission of my uncle and aunt; at any rate, I thank you
for your kindness."
Back