The Fruits of Disobedience
or
The Kidnapped Child
I

In a beautiful villa¹, on the banks of the Medway resided a gentleman whose name was Darnley, who had, during the early part of life, filled a post of some importance about the Court, and even in its decline preserved that elegance² of manners which so peculiarly marks a finished gentleman.

The loss of a beloved wife had given a pensive³ cast to his features, and a seriousness to his deportment, which many people imagined proceeded from haughtiness⁴ of disposition⁵, yet nothing could be further from Mr. Darnley's character, for he was affable, gentle, benevolent⁶, and humane⁷.

His family consisted of an only sister, who, like himself, had lost the object of her tenderest affection, but who, in dividing her attention between her brother and his amiable⁸ children, endeavoured to forget her own misfortunes.[Pg 99]

Mr. Darnley's fortune was sufficiently⁹ great to enable him to place his daughters in the first school in London, but he preferred having them under his immediate¹⁰ instruction, and as Mrs. Collier offered to assist him in their education he resolved for some years not to engage a governess, as Nurse Chapman was one of those worthy¹¹ creatures to whose care he could securely trust them.

An old friend of Mr. Darnley's had recently bought a house at Rochester, and that gentleman and his sister were invited to pass a few days there, and as Emily grew rather too big for the nurse's management Mrs. Collier resolved to make her of the party, leaving Sophia, Amanda, and Eliza under that good woman's protection.

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