Lizzie Leigh: A Short Story
()
About this ebook
Elizabeth Gaskell
Mrs Gaskell was born Elizabeth Stevenson in London in 1810. Her mother Eliza, the niece of the potter Josiah Wedgwood, died when she was a child. Much of her childhood was spent in Cheshire, where she lived with an aunt at Knutsford, a town she would later immortalise as Cranford. In 1832, she married a Unitarian minister, William Gaskell (who had a literary career of his own), and they settled in Manchester. The industrial surroundings offered her inspiration for her novels. Gaskell's first novel, Mary Barton, was published anonymously in 1848. The best-known of her other novels are Cranford (1853) and North and South (1855). Elizabeth met Charlotte Brontë in 1850, and they struck up a great friendship. After Charlotte's death in 1855, her father, the Reverend Patrick Brontë, asked Gaskell to write her biography to counteract gossip and speculation. The Life of Charlotte Brontë was published in 1857. Gaskell was also a skilled proponent of the ghost story. Her last novel, Wives and Daughters, said by many to be her most mature work remained unfinished at the time of her death in 1865.
Read more from Elizabeth Gaskell
Ghostly Tales: Spine-Chilling Stories of the Victorian Age Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Big Book of Christmas Tales: 250+ Short Stories, Fairytales and Holiday Myths & Legends Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMary Barton Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5North And South: The Wild And Wanton Edition Volume 3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNorth And South: The Wild And Wanton Edition Volume 1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5MARY BARTON: A Tale of Manchester Life, With Author's Biography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mary Barton Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5North And South: The Wild And Wanton Edition Volume 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Greatest Ghost and Horror Stories Ever Written: volume 1 (30 short stories) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A House to Let Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Poor Clare Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Cousin Phillis Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Moorland Cottage Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMary Barton (Unabridged): A Tale of Manchester Life, With Author's Biography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Old Nurse's Story and Other Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cousin Phillis Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Mr Harrison's Confessions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lois the Witch Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life of Charlotte Brontë (Illustrated Edition): Delightful Biography of the Author of Jane Eyre by One of Her Closest Friends Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBox Set - The Greatest Ghost and Horror Stories Ever Written: volumes 1 to 7 (100+ authors & 200+ stories) (Halloween Stories) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWives and Daughters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSylvia's Lovers, Volume 2 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Sylvia's Lovers (Barnes & Noble Digital Library) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Lizzie Leigh
Titles in the series (4)
North and South: A Passionate Tale of Love Across the Divide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCousin Phillis: A Romantic Classic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lizzie Leigh: A Short Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCranford: A Classic Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related ebooks
Lizzie Leigh Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lizzie Liegh Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lizzie Leigh by Elizabeth Gaskell - Delphi Classics (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrank Oldfield Lost and Found Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDawn of the Morning Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEmma Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jane Austen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEmma: New Revised Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEmma - Illustrated Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Orphans of Glen Elder Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe May Queen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEmma (English edition) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAljona: An unrealizable love Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEmma: The Jane Austen Illustrated Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Emma: Jane Austen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDarlin' Nellie Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEMMA Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Emma: with illustrations by H.M. Brock Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jane Austen Collection: Emma, Lady Susan, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPride And Prejudice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEmma (A to Z Classics) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEmma (Best Navigation, Active TOC) (A to Z Classics) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWicked Charms Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Emma: A Timeless Tale of Love, Pride, and Self-Discovery: A Regency Romance that Captivates Hearts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEmma: Bestsellers and famous Books Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEmma: A Timeless Tale of Love, Friendship, and Self-Discovery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAt Long Last: The School for Sophistication, #4 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEmma: Complete 3 Volumes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Complete Works of Jane Austen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
General Fiction For You
The Covenant of Water (Oprah's Book Club) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mythos Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Priory of the Orange Tree Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The City of Dreaming Books Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Man Called Ove: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Unhoneymooners Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shantaram: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life of Pi: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dante's Divine Comedy: Inferno Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fellowship Of The Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Canterbury Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Ends with Us: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beartown: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jackal, Jackal: Tales of the Dark and Fantastic Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ulysses: With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemist: A Graphic Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Recital of the Dark Verses Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iliad of Homer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Outsider: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Sister's Keeper: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cabin at the End of the World: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Good and Evil Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Lizzie Leigh
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Lizzie Leigh - Elizabeth Gaskell
CHAPTER I
When Death is present in a household on a Christmas Day, the very contrast between the time as it now is, and the day as it has often been, gives a poignancy to sorrow—a more utter blankness to the desolation. James Leigh died just as the far-away bells of Rochdale Church were ringing for morning service on Christmas Day, 1836. A few minutes before his death, he opened his already glazing eyes, and made a sign to his wife, by the faint motion of his lips, that he had yet something to say. She stooped close down, and caught the broken whisper, I forgive her, Annie! May God forgive me!
Oh, my love, my dear! only get well, and I will never cease showing my thanks for those words. May God in heaven bless thee for saying them. Thou’rt not so restless, my lad! may be—Oh, God!
For even while she spoke he died.
They had been two-and-twenty years man and wife; for nineteen of those years their life had been as calm and happy as the most perfect uprightness on the one side, and the most complete confidence and loving submission on the other, could make it. Milton’s famous line might have been framed and hung up as the rule of their married life, for he was truly the interpreter, who stood between God and her; she would have considered herself wicked if she had ever dared even to think him austere, though as certainly as he was an upright man, so surely was he hard, stern, and inflexible. But for three years the moan and the murmur had never been out of her heart; she had rebelled against her husband as against a tyrant, with a hidden, sullen rebellion, which tore up the old landmarks of wifely duty and affection, and poisoned the fountains whence gentlest love and reverence had once been for ever springing.
But those last blessed words replaced him on his throne in her heart, and called out penitent anguish for all the bitter estrangement of later years. It was this which made her refuse all the entreaties of her sons, that she would see the kind-hearted neighbours, who called on their way from church, to sympathize and condole. No! she would stay with the dead husband that had spoken tenderly at last, if for three years he had kept silence; who knew but what, if she had only been more gentle and less angrily reserved he might have relented earlier—and in time?
She sat rocking herself to and fro by the side of the bed, while the footsteps below went in and out; she had been in sorrow too long to have any violent burst of deep grief now; the furrows were well worn in her cheeks, and the tears flowed quietly, if incessantly, all the day long. But when the winter’s night drew on, and the neighbours had gone away to their homes, she stole to the window, and gazed out, long and wistfully, over the dark grey moors. She did not hear her son’s voice, as he spoke to her from the door, nor his footstep as he drew nearer. She started when he touched her.
Mother! come down to us. There’s no one but Will and me. Dearest mother, we do so want you.
The poor lad’s voice trembled, and he began to cry. It appeared to require an effort on Mrs. Leigh’s part to tear herself away from the window, but with a sigh she complied with his request.
The two boys (for though Will was nearly twenty-one, she still thought of him as a lad) had done everything in their power to make the house-place comfortable for her. She herself, in the old days before her sorrow, had never made a brighter fire or a cleaner hearth, ready for her