Mistress Wilding Esprios Classics

To save her craven brother's hide, Ruth promised Wilding she'd marry him. She never guessed she'd fall in love with him--though that she should have known. He was a good man, a fine man, and brave, too. Never in her life could she have imagined that she'd set events in motion that would make crowned heads rest uneasily, nor that she'd imperriled all their lives.

Then drink it thus, cried the rash young fool, and splashed the contents of his cup full into the face of Mr. Wilding even as that gentleman, on his feet, was proposing to drink to the eyes of the young fool's sister. The moments that followed were full of interest. A stillness, a brooding, expectant stillness, fell upon the company - and it numbered a round dozen - about Lord Gervase's richly appointed board. In the soft candlelight the oval table shone like a deep brown pool, in which were reflected the gleaming silver and sparkling crystal that seemed to float upon it.[...]

1924. After a brief stint in the business world, Sabatini went to work as a writer. He wrote short stories in the 1890s, and his first novel came out in 1902. It took Sabatini roughly a quarter of century of hard work before he attained success with Scaramouche in 1921. This brilliant novel of the French Revolution became an international bestseller. It was followed by the equally successful Captain Blood in 1922.

Reproduction of the original.