A Broken Blossom, Vol. 2 of 3
A Broken Blossom, Volume 2, continues Florence Marryat's first-person narrative of orphaned Hilda Marsh, now living under the guardianship of the Reverend Horace Lovett and his daughters, Tessie and Ange, in the small town of St. Pucelle. The volume opens with a visit to the impoverished Baron Armand de Nesselrode at his crumbling Château des Roses, where Hilda breaks a priceless heirloom wineglass, meets the Baron's pet wolf, and hears the legend of his family's crest. She senses the Baron's reckless despair and his gambling habit, and privately hopes he will find happiness with the gentle, self-effacing Tessie, while sensing that his true match must be a woman of genuine devotion rather than fashionable Parisian society. Domestic and financial tensions emerge as Hilda struggles to obtain her promised allowance from Mr. Lovett, who proves charming but chronically evasive about money. Gossip from the vain, quarrelsome Miss Sophy Markham and the equally two-faced Mrs. Carolus exposes the shallow social world of the English expatriate colony, including hints that young Arthur Thrale is being fleeced at cards and flirted with recklessly. Ange's eighteenth birthday brings genuine warmth—flowers from villagers she has nursed, gifts, and a family secret carefully hidden from Hilda: a paying gentleman lodger is coming to live with them. That lodger proves to be Cave Charteris, the very man who once courted and abandoned Hilda years earlier at Norwood after her mother's encouragement and her own youthful devotion. Their reunion is charged with concealed emotion; Charteris pretends near-total forgetfulness, and Hilda, examining his handsome but morally weak face, convinces herself she has finally been cured of her old attachment. She resolves to treat him with cool courtesy while quietly maneuvering to protect Ange and Tessie from his practiced charm, and to save young Thrale from further losses. Hilda's growing perceptiveness deepens the novel's central exposure: Mr. Lovett, despite his benevolent, saintly public manner, is revealed as deeply selfish and financially ruinous to his devoted daughters, who scrimp, sew, and nurse him while he dines well and hides his debts. Alone with the Baron one evening while Lovett is ill, Hilda boldly urges Armand de Nesselrode to renounce gambling for the sake of his future and those who love him; he vows reform with sudden fervor, and she believes—though never says aloud—that he is falling in love with Tessie. The volume's darkest turn comes when Hilda and Tessie visit the dying peasant Guillaume Fromard, whose widow, in a scene of raw grief, publicly accuses Mr. Lovett of borrowing and never repaying the family's life savings, contributing to her husband's death from want. Tessie tearfully confirms the truth, revealing that her father is debt-ridden throughout the district and that she and Ange have long shouldered silent sacrifice to shield their father's reputation—and Ange's idolizing innocence—from exposure. Hilda pledges loyalty to the sisters despite her disillusionment with their father. The volume closes on a lighter but complicating note: Charlie Sandilands, Hilda's earnest, plain former suitor, arrives unannounced from England for a month's visit, reawakening old family ties even as Cave Charteris's veiled jealousy and Ange's evident fascination with Charteris signal further romantic entanglements to come.
By Florence Marryat · First published 1879 · Genre: Domestic Fiction, Romance, Victorian Novel · 9 chapters · 42,688 words
First lines
The _goûter_ was laid in a long narrow room, which evidently had once been a banqueting hall. Remnants of exquisitely stained glass still ornamented its windows, although the ravages made in them by time had been replaced by ordinary white panes. Tall, straight-backed chairs, carved in black oak, and furnished with green cushions, the embossed velvet covering of which was both faded and rent, stood at the table for our accommodation, whilst from the panelling of the walls looked down upon us an almost obliterated collection of the Baron's ancestors.
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A Broken Blossom, Vol. 2 of 3 is listed on Textopian as a novel by Florence Marryat, dated 1879 CE.
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- Work type: Novel
- Author: Florence Marryat
- Date: 1879 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Domestic Fiction, Romance, Victorian Novel, Social Commentary, Literary Fiction
- Length: 42,688 words
- Structure: 9 chapters, 789 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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- Work identity for A Broken Blossom, Vol. 2 of 3 by Florence Marryat
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
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Genres
- Domestic Fiction — The narrative centers on household life, family relationships, and intimate domestic interactions within the Lovett household and their social circle, with extensive focus on daily routines and interpersonal dynamics.
- Romance — Multiple romantic threads drive the plot: Hilda's revisiting her past with Cave Charteris, the Baron's implicit interest in Tessie, and Charlie Sandilands' unrequited affection for Hilda.
- Victorian Novel — The work exhibits quintessential Victorian characteristics including moral ambiguity, class consciousness, restrictive social propriety, and a first-person narrative exploring emotional depth and ethical dilemmas.
- Social Commentary — The narrative critiques social hypocrisy, financial irresponsibility masked by respectability, the exploitation of working-class dependents, and the rigid etiquette surrounding unmarried women in both English and Continental society.
Tags
Victorian novel · Romance · Domestic drama · Serial novel · English literature · 19th century fiction · Emotional conflict · Family drama · Character study · Social commentary · Historical fiction · Female protagonist
Contents
- CHAPTER I THE VENETIAN GLASS
- CHAPTER II ARTHUR THRALE
- CHAPTER III THE SECRET
- CHAPTER IV THE DENOUEMENT
- CHAPTER V CURED
- CHAPTER VI TWO SERPENTS
- CHAPTER VII ALL FOR TESSIE
- CHAPTER VIII A REVELATION
- CHAPTER IX CHARLIE