The Duchess of Wrexe, Her Decline and Death; A Romantic Commentary

The Duchess of Wrexe, Her Decline and Death; A Romantic Commentary is by Hugh Walpole. A note says that The Duchess of Wrexe is entirely a novel complete and independent in itself. The note also says the book is grouped, with the two stories that will follow it, under the heading of The Rising City because the three novels will be connected in place, in idea, and in sequence of time.

A child's grandmother speaks to her with the words Well, have you been a good little girl? and Tell me what you have been doing, child, and at the sound of that voice the room would flood with terror. The child was much alone; she had governesses, a music master and a drawing master, but held aloof from them however friendly they might be, and told them nothing of her thoughts. A woman speaking of the War says that all they want is to get used to it, a new experience for all of them, and that to Adela and John she is now an old sick woman who has got to be kept quiet and away from worry.