Explore "The Trials of Triona" by Christopher Ward on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
"Why is it, mother? " asked Olivia, "that we have never associated with the county families? Why has the Squire never invited us to dinner? Why is informal tea at the vicarage the summit of our social attainment? Tell me, mother, tell me!"
Had Mrs. Gale lived the normal life of women -- not only speaking, but being spoken to -- she might have gone to her grave with her secret unrevealed. But infinite sorrow had weakened her and, in this, the last poignant intimacy of her deathbed, she disclosed it to her daughter.