The Girl from Nowhere

The Girl from Nowhere by Baillie Reynolds

Felix Vanston, a disgraced young socialist recently released from prison, is starving in a Deptford lodging-house and prepares to kill himself with laudanum after burning his rejected revolutionary manuscript and leaving a bitter letter for his half-brother, Denzil Vanston of Normansgrave. At the moment he is about to drink the poison, a sixteen-year-old girl falls from the room above and nearly plunges onto the railway below. Felix rescues her. The girl, Veronica “Rona” Leigh, has escaped from Rankin Leigh, who calls himself her uncle. Raised in a convent school and ignorant of the world, she was taken to London, beaten, starved, and threatened with being sold into a degrading theatrical life. Felix and Rona, both desperate and penniless, find food, evade Rankin and his associate Levy, and flee by canal barge. Felix adopts the name David Smith and claims Rona as his sister. Rona is badly injured, and at Dunhythe Felix summons Dr. Causton. By chance Miss Rawson, Denzil’s aunt and housekeeper, helps take Rona to the Cottage Hospital at Aylfleet. Felix cannot reveal himself: the police find his abandoned room, laudanum bottles, and suicide note, and conclude that he has disappeared or drowned. Denzil, wounded by Felix’s accusation of cruelty, is tortured by uncertainty over his brother’s fate. Rona recovers under Miss Rawson’s care, while Denzil becomes fascinated by her gentility, beauty, courage, and mystery. Felix works at Basingstoke to support her and writes as David Smith, advising her to conceal the truth. He befriends Vronsky, a sympathetic Russian engineer, who offers him work abroad. A detective hired by Rankin and Levy traces the fugitives imperfectly, but Felix and Doggett mislead him into believing that the pair have gone to Plymouth and America. When scarlet fever requires the hospital, Denzil and Miss Rawson take Rona to Normansgrave. Felix secretly returns and meets her in an old summer-house. Seeing her restored to health and security, he feels unworthy, but Rona assures him she has not forgotten that he saved her. In an emotional encounter he asks her to promise to marry him when he can make a home; she agrees out of gratitude, trust, and youthful pity rather than mature love. They exchange halves of a sixpence as a pledge. Felix then writes Miss Rawson, partly revealing Rona’s danger but concealing his identity and prison record. Denzil and Miss Rawson decide to protect and educate Rona abroad. Two years pass. Felix is presumed dead after a decomposed corpse is found, though Denzil and Miss Rawson do not fully accept the identification. Rona studies in Germany and France, supported partly by Felix’s regular remittances. She matures into a talented, beautiful young woman and returns to Normansgrave. She now feels burdened by her secret engagement: Felix’s ardent love letters and his claim upon her frighten her, while she believes their childhood promise was rash and unfair. She wants independence and begins successfully writing magazine stories. Denzil, increasingly in love with Rona, wants to keep her at Normansgrave and protect her from her supposed uncle. Miss Rawson hopes that he will propose before other men notice Rona’s appeal. Rona, however, receives a letter from Felix in Siberia. He explains that a former member of the Brotherhood, Cravatz, has ordered him to murder a governor who is his friend; Vronsky hopes to have Cravatz arrested. If Felix escapes this danger, he asks Rona to come to him, marry him, and live with him in Siberia. Rona is overwhelmed by dread and repulsion at the prospect of leaving her new home for him, though she feels guilty over the promise she gave. While she weeps alone near Newark Abbey, Denzil finds her, impulsively takes her in his arms, and calls her his darling.

By Baillie Reynolds · First published 1908 · Genre: Romance, Victorian Romance, Social Drama · 30 chapters · 113,610 words

First lines

The sense that every struggle brings defeat, / Because Fate holds no prize to crown success: / That all the oracles are dumb, or cheat, / Because they have no secret to express: -- / That none can pierce the vast black veil uncertain / Because there is no light behind the curtain, / That all is vanity and nothingness! / _The City of Dreadful Night._

The curtain rises on an empty stage.

What this Textopian page supports

The Girl from Nowhere is listed on Textopian as a novel by Baillie Reynolds, dated 1908 CE.

This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.

Good citation fit

Similar titles

Genres

Tags

romance · mystery · drama · British fiction · early twentieth century · social class · identity · secrets · family relationships · love story · suspense · society

Contents

More by Baillie Reynolds