A fatal silence, vol. 3 (of 3)

"A fatal silence, vol. 3 (of 3)" by Florence Marryat is a novel written in the late 19th century. Set in rural England, it follows Hal Rushton and his wife Paula as their new marriage and newborn child are imperiled by small‑town malice and a dangerous secret from Paula’s past. Expect a tense domestic melodrama of love, jealousy, and moral pressure.

The opening of the novel shows Paula giving birth to a daughter under the capable eye of young Dr Charles Addison, while Hal clashes with his vindictive stepmother, Mrs Rushton, who is caught snooping and, worse, secretly drugging the baby with laudanum; Addison exposes the act, and Hal expels her and later evicts her and her son. Peace returns with Mrs Roberts as nurse and steady support from Mrs Measures, until winter brings a shock: during a drive in Haltham, Paula’s horses shy, a drunken vagrant falls, and in his upturned face she recognizes the man she thought dead—Carl Bjornsën—before fainting and then hiding her distress from Hal. At the start of the next day she persuades herself she might be mistaken, yet secretly drives back in a pony chaise, dismisses her nurse, and, asking for “Mother Sims,” begins to trace the vagrant to his attic lodging. (This is an automatically generated summary.)