Mrs. J. H. Riddell

Name: Far above rubies (Vol. 2 of 3)
Author: Mrs. J. H. Riddell

Biographical details

Charlotte Eliza Lawson Riddell (1832–1906), also known as Mrs. J. H. Riddell and writing under the pen name F. G. Trafford, was a prolific Irish novelist and editor whose works explored themes of commerce, the supernatural, and social customs during the Victorian era. A co-proprietor of St.

James’s Magazine, she authored 56 novels and short stories, including George Geith of Fen Court (1864) and The Uninhabited House (1875), while her ghost stories—collected in Weird Stories—delved into unsettling settings and otherworldly occurrences. Her detailed depictions of city life, ethical conflicts, and ghostly apparitions established her as a unique voice in 19th-century literature, merging business savvy with gothic creativity.

Quotes by Mrs. J. H. Riddell

Mrs. J. H. Riddell, Phemie Keller (1866)

“ How terrible must have been that wound which prevented Basil Stondon seeking consolation for the frowns of one woman in the smiles of another! How wonderful the power of that love which could still retain a hold over him when he was travelling on—on—over the sea, away from the smiles and the tears and the weakness and the strength of Phemie, who had said, “You shall never forget me—never love girl, nor woman, nor wife as you have loved me. When you are lying awake in the darkness you shall think of me; when you are standing in the twilight you shall remember me. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Mrs. J. H. Riddell, The Uninhabited House

“ If ever you should get into the power of a man like Robert Elmsdale, don't offend him. It is bad enough to owe him money; but it is worse for him to owe you a grudge. I had offended him. He was always worrying me about his wife—lamenting her ill-health, extolling her beauty, glorifying himself on having married a woman of birth and breeding; just as if his were the only wife in the world, as if other men had not at home women twice as good, if not as handsome as Miss Blake's sister. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Mrs. J. H. Riddell, Far above rubies (Vol. 1 of 3) (1867)

“ Out in the battle-field, where the city streets are full of eager soldiers; out where the fray is fiercest, the fire strongest; out where life is not a tranquil dream, but a mad struggle; where men go to their long rest not rusted, but worn; where the night’s slumber is short, and the day’s labour long; out where as iron sharpeneth iron, so doth the face of a man his friend;—there is the only place for energies to be aroused and genius developed, for profitable work to be accomplished, for life’s best lessons to be learned. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Mrs. J. H. Riddell, Far above rubies (Vol. 3 of 3) (1867)

“ She could not go with him in his agony of love, of struggling virtue, of wicked strategy, of unavailing repentance—she, whose life had never known the rush and tumult of an overpowering affection, who had never been adored, idolized, wronged, by any man, as it was in Douglas Croft’s nature to adore, idolize, and wrong,—she, who was pure in thought and deed, pure almost as one of God’s angels—how could he tell her of the over-mastering love which had overleapt all boundaries of prudence, all restraints of society, all divine laws, all human restrictions? ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Mrs. J. H. Riddell, The Earl's promise (1873)

“ Not much of an ear could John Riley boast, yet he loved to listen to Grace’s singing, and hearkened with something between a pang and a hope to the little thrills of melody into which she would break—just as a bird breaks into a vocal ecstasy—while they walked through the rose-laden gardens, or floated, oars uplifted, over the moonlit sea, the water diamonds dripping from them, making an accompaniment to the last soft notes of the duet sung by his sister and Grace. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Mrs. J. H. Riddell, Phemie Keller (1866)

“ She had never loved her husband—never. She loved this other man who could never be anything to her—never. Among the hills she had owned one life—among the hills she had pledged that life away. She could not go back to the hills now, and begin existence in the new. She had sinned; she had sinned in marrying; she had sinned in loving; she could never be happy, but she could be true; she could, though her sorrow killed her; she could, though her tears fell ceaselessly; she could and she would. Poor child! poor wife! poor Phemie! ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Mrs. J. H. Riddell, Far above rubies (Vol. 2 of 3) (1867)

“ Strange things often ride beside a man, keep his company in the night watches, walk with him along the familiar paths; strange things the ghosts of “what has been,” the shadows of “what is to be;” and it was most probably a mixture of both these phantoms that caused Squire Dudley to spur his horse, shying in the moonlight—on—and to push forward more rapidly under the elms and the beeches, beside the hedgerows, bare of flower and leaf, across the gleaming brook—home. ”

Mrs. J. H. Riddell

Biographical details

Quotes by Mrs. J. H. Riddell

Common terms

Works by Mrs. J. H. Riddell

Similar authors

Get perspective with Kwize: daily news enlightened by great literature