My Hildegarde

My Hildegarde by St. George Rathborne

Morgan Kenneth, wealthy but embittered by separation from his wife Hildegarde, wanders to Bolivar during its flower festival and unexpectedly encounters Milo Robbins, an old shipmate both had believed dead after a Samoan hurricane. Robbins has recently survived a mutiny and needs employment; Morgan gladly plans to make him master of his yacht, the Wanderer. A little girl, Carmencita, gives them an English note from an American woman imprisoned in the alcalde’s house and begging for rescue. Though Morgan suspects a trap, he and Robbins follow Carmencita through the alcalde’s gardens and secretly enter the mansion. The supposed captive proves to be Hildegarde, Morgan’s estranged wife. Their reunion is bitter: both remain wounded by their past quarrel and Morgan’s desertion, though their attraction plainly survives. Hildegarde initially refuses refuge aboard Morgan’s yacht, but he insists on removing her from the alcalde’s power. As they escape, Robbins knocks down the alcalde, setting off an alarm and a furious pursuit. Morgan shoots a gardener to obtain the garden key, but the key is lost; the party instead uses a ladder from the toolhouse to climb over the wall. Morgan fights off Gen. Toreado and retrieves Hildegarde’s handbag before descending. They flee through Bolivar, pursued by a mob shouting for the Gringoes’ death. At the harbor, Morgan and Robbins force their way into a boat and row toward the Wanderer. Pursuing boatmen nearly overtake them after an oar breaks, but Morgan’s pistol and an oar, combined with Robbins’s strength, repel the attackers. The yacht’s launch rescues them. On board are Morgan’s friends Gustavus Thorpe and Diana. Hildegarde veils herself and asks Morgan to conceal her identity. Morgan gives Robbins a position commanding the yacht and brings Hildegarde to a stateroom furnished in colors she loves. He notices her attachment to a photograph in her handbag and mistakenly assumes she has remarried, perhaps to his old rival Hilary Tempest. Later, Hildegarde explains that she was trapped in Bolivar by her father, whom she had believed dead. Lonely after Morgan abandoned her, she trusted her disgraced father, who conspired with the alcalde to seize the fortune Morgan had left her. Morgan’s jealousy dissolves when he learns the photograph is his own and that Hildegarde has not remarried. Their reconciliation is still obstructed because Hildegarde believes Morgan has gone away with Diana, not realizing Diana is Gustavus’s wife. Morgan finally explains this, and both confess their enduring love and regret. Before they can enjoy their reunion, a violent storm strikes. The Wanderer struggles through the gale, then is driven onto a reef. Several crewmen are swept away, and the remaining passengers await destruction as the yacht breaks apart. Morgan fastens Hildegarde to a cork buoy and ties himself to her. When the yacht finally disintegrates, they are thrown into the sea. Morgan fights through the surf, reaches shore with Hildegarde, and fears she has drowned. She revives after his desperate efforts. Weak, soaked, and uncertain whether their companions survived, they walk toward trees and possible shelter, forgiving each other and renewing their love as the text ends.

By St. George Rathborne · First published 1902 · Genre: Adventure fiction, Romantic adventure, Romance · 40 chapters · 81,442 words

First lines

I was tremendously jaded, weary of knocking about the world in the vain hope that a succession of strange sights, and rubbing elbows with queer people, might cause me to forget some very unpleasant events in my past; but which obstinately persisted in clinging to me with a zeal I could not appreciate. So it chanced that in my earnest endeavor to run away from the phantom that seemed to pursue me, I managed to double on my trail and actually overtook it.

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romance fiction · adventure fiction · love story · sentimental fiction · popular fiction · American literature · English-language novel · late Victorian era · turn-of-the-century fiction · courtship · young lovers · female protagonist

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My Hildegarde is listed on Textopian as a novel by St. George Rathborne, dated 1902 CE.

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