Lyon Berners

Definition and stakes

The theme of “Lyon Berners” has been addressed by authors such as Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Juliana Berners, George Borrow, Frances Hodgson Burnett and Charles Dudley Warner. It is often associated with terms like Bern, Berny, society, servant and horse.

Quotes about “Lyon Berners”

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Cruel as the grave

“ As the wealthy master of the Black Valley manor, with its rich dependencies of farms, quarries, mills, and hamlets, he might have led the easy life of a country gentleman. But in Lyon Berners’ apprehension, work was duty; and so to work he went, as if he had had to get his living by it.
Every day he left home at nine o’clock in the morning, in order to be present at the opening of the court at ten. He reached home again at four in the afternoon, and dined with Sybil and Rosa. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Cruel as the grave

“ It was she, Sybil, the accused, whose very aspect accused her more loudly than the dying woman had done; for she stood there, still in her fiery masquerade dress, her face pallid, her eyes blazing, her wild black hair loose and streaming, her crimsoned hand raised and grasping a bloodstained dagger.
“Oh, wretched woman! most wretched woman! What is this that you have done?” groaned Lyon Berners, in unutterable agony—agony not for the dead beauty before him, but for the living wife, whom he felt that he had driven to this deed of desperation. “Oh, Sybil! Sybil! what have you done?” ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Cruel as the grave

“ Lyon, when shall I wake?” she exclaimed in wild despair.
“What is it you say, dear Sybil?” he gently asked.
“When shall I wake—wake from this ghastly nightmare, in which I seem to myself to be a fugitive from justice! an exile from my home! a houseless, hunted stranger in the land! It is a nightmare! It can not be real, you know! Oh, that I could wake!”
“Dear Sybil, collect your faculties. Do not let despair drive you to distraction. Be mistress of yourself in this trying situation,” said Lyon Berners, gravely. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Cruel as the grave

“ A sudden and terrible catastrophe has driven us from our home. You have had a heavy sleep since that, and you find it difficult to awake to the truth,” said Lyon Berners tenderly, as he sat down by her side, and sought to soothe her.
“Oh! I know now! I remember all now! my fatal fancy ball! Rosa Blondelle’s mysterious murder! Our sudden flight! All! O! Heavens, all!” cried Sybil, dropping her face upon her hands.
Lyon Berners put his arm around her, and drew her to his bosom. But he did not speak; he thought it better to leave her to collect herself in silence. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Cruel as the grave

“ Before Lyon Berners could speak, Farmer Nye impetuously pushed past him, and rushed up to Sybil, pulled off his hat and put out his hand, exclaiming:
“Give me your hand, lady. I beg your pardon ten thousand times over for all I said and did to affront you, not knowing who you was. But now, lady, here is a man who don’t believe you to be innocent, because he knows that you are so, and who will fight for you as long as he has got a whole bone left in his body, and shed his blood for you as long as he has got a drop left in his veins.” ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Cruel as the grave

“ Nor am I the only friend you have in the world. My wife is surely your friend,” said Lyon Berners, earnestly.
Slowly and sorrowfully Rosa Blondelle shook her head, murmuring sadly:
“No woman ever was my friend. I know not why.”
“I can easily imagine why. But in regard to my dear wife, you are mistaken. Surely she has proved herself your friend.”
“She is a noble lady, and I honor her. She is my benefactress, and I thank her. But she is not my friend, and so I do not love her.” ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Cruel as the grave

“ I am sure she spoke in the delirium of sudden death and terror,” said Lyon Berners earnestly.
“Nor will any one else who knows me, believe it! So be tranquil. I am not guilty, nor will I run away like a guilty one. I will stay here and tell the truth,” said Sybil composedly.
“But, oh, good Heavens! telling the truth will not help you! The law deals with facts, not truths! and judges of facts as if they were truths. And oh! my dear Sybil! ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Cruel as the grave

“ Before now, when they had been together, Lyon Berners had been accustomed to think of, smile on, talk to, only her, his wife! Now his thoughts, smiles, conversation were all divided with another!—Oh no! Oh no! not divided, but almost entirely absorbed by that other! At least so suspected the jealous wife.
“Is it possible, oh! is it possible that he loves me less than formerly? that he loves me not at all? that he loves this stranger?” thought Sybil, as she watched her husband and her friend, entirely taken up with each other, and entirely oblivious of her! ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Cruel as the grave

“ On the man’s side, it was pity and gratified self-love. So little did Rosa Blondelle really care for Lyon Berners, and so truly did she estimate the value of her very luxurious home at Black Hall, that had she known the state of Sybil’s mind, she would very quickly have put an end to her flirtation with the husband, and done all that she could to recover the confidence of the wife, and then—looked out among the attractive young men of the neighborhood for another party to that sentimental, meaningless love-making, which was yet a necessity to her shallow life. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Tried for Her Life

“ But I fancy you are good for that," said the young lawyer.
Sybil smiled gravely, and when the pen was put into her hand, signed her name.
Her signature was followed by those of Lyon Berners, Clement Pendleton, and Beatrix Pendleton.
And the bond being duly sealed and delivered, Sybil was informed that she was free to depart.
Free to depart! No more need of flying and hiding! Free to go home, to sit down in peace by her own dear fireside, to lie down and repose on her own comfortable bed! Free to depart! Free to go home! Oh, joy! ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Cruel as the grave

“ Among these last was Rosa Blondelle, who sat on a corner sofa, and sulked and looked sad and sentimental because Lyon Berners had not spoken to her, or even approached her since he had seen that look on Sybil’s face. To the vain and shallow coquette, it was gall and bitterness to perceive that Sybil had still the power, of whatever sort, to keep her own husband and her admirer from her side. So Rosa sat and sorrowed, or seemed to sorrow, on the corner sofa, from which nobody invited her to rise, for there was a very general feeling of disapprobation against the beautiful blonde. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Cruel as the grave

“ And then the spell that had bound her faculties was unloosed, and she uttered scream after scream as she shook and awakened her husband.
“In the name of Heaven, Sybil, what now?” he exclaimed, as he started up into a sitting posture.
“Oh, Lyon! for the love of mercy, get up! Get a light! I shall go mad in this horrible place!” she cried in a perfect frenzy of terror.
“Calm yourself, Sybil. There is nothing to fear. I am here with you. I will strike a light,” answered Lyon Berners quietly, as he got up and groped about in the darkness for the tinder-box. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Tried for Her Life

“ Others whispered that Sybil had been drowned in the flood; that Lyon Berners, finding himself a widower, had proposed for Beatrix Pendleton, with whom he had always been in love, and that he had been accepted by her; that they had been anxious to marry immediately; but ashamed to do so, so soon after the tragic death of Sybil, and in her own neighborhood; and so they had gone abroad to be united, and to spend the first year of their wedded lives. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Tried for Her Life

“ Lyon Berners, chilled to the heart with the coldness of the night, half famished for want of food, and wearied with his late violent exertions, and wishing to recruit his strength for the next day's hard work, kindled a fire, and made some coffee, and forced himself to eat and drink a little, before he drew his mattress to the door of the vault, and stretched himself down as near as he could possibly get to the place where he believed the dead body of his beloved wife lay. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Tried for Her Life

“ Lyon Berners, who had been almost rudely indifferent to the young lady's words until this moment, now turned and looked at her with astonishment, admiration, and gratitude, all blended in the expression of his fine countenance.
"Beatrix! No! I appreciate your magnanimity! And I thank you even as much as I wonder at you! But you must not make this sacrifice for us," he said.
Miss Pendleton burst into tears.
"Oh!" she said amid her sobs; "there can be nothing in the world so precious to us as our childhood's friendships! ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Cruel as the grave

“ When Sybil Berners found herself for a moment alone with her husband, she laid her hand upon his coat sleeve to stay him, in his haste, and she inquired:
“What do you think of her now?”
“I think, my darling Sybil, that you were right in your judgment of this lady. And I agree with you perfectly. I think, my only love, that in what you have done for this stranger, you have acted not only with the goodness, but with the wisdom of an angel,” replied Lyon Berners, snatching her suddenly to his heart, and holding her closely there while he pressed kiss after kiss upon her crimson lip ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Cruel as the grave

“ Because, in the first place dear Sybil, I loved you, you only, long before I ever married you!” said Lyon Berners in increasing surprise.
“But—if you had met her before you had ever seen me, you would have loved and married her.”
“No! On my honor, Sybil!”
“Yet you admire her so much!”
“Dear Sybil! I admire all things beautiful in nature and art, but I don’t want to marry all!”
“And are you sure that this beautiful Rosa Blondelle would not make you a more suitable companion than I do?” she inquired. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Cruel as the grave

“ When our travellers found themselves alone that night, in one of the two small adjoining rooms that had been assigned to them, Lyon Berners turned to Sybil, and said;
“You see, my dear Sybil, how it is: ‘A prophet hath honor except in his own city.’ No one out of the Black Valley thinks of accusing you.” ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Cruel as the grave

“ Kings had no better,” said Lyon Berners, cheerfully.
Sybil approached the fire, but instead of walking around it, she sat down on the flagstones before it. She looked very weary, thoroughly prostrated in body, soul, and spirit.
“What are we waiting for, in this horrible pause?” she inquired at length.
“We are waiting for Pendleton. He is to bring us news, as soon as he can slip away and steal to us without fear of detection,” answered Lyon Berners.
“Oh, Heaven! what words have crept into our conversation about ourselves and friends too! ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Cruel as the grave

“ With the sunlight of her smile still shining on him, Rosa held out her hand, and said in the sweetest tones:
“Sir, I have no words good enough to tell you how deeply I feel your kindness and that of your dear wife to me.”
“Dear lady, Mrs. Berners and myself do but gratify our own tastes in trying to serve you; for it will be a great happiness to us if we succeed in doing so,” replied Lyon Berners, with a look and tone that proved his perfect sincerity and earnestness.
As thus they smiled and glanced, and spoke to each other, Sybil also glanced from the one to the other ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Tried for Her Life

“ Mistess is down in that vault, so sure's I'm a livin' nigger," exclaimed Joe, who now came up to the door.
"Good Heaven! she could not live there an hour; the very air is death! But if there, with a breath of life remaining, she must hear and answer us," exclaimed Lyon Berners, in breathless haste, as he went to the door of the vault; and putting his lips close to the bars, called loudly:
"Sybil, Sybil! my darling, are you there?" ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Cruel as the grave

“ And Rosa pointed to one of the doors, at which Beatrix Pendleton, in Sybil’s disguise, was just entering the room.
“No matter! See! she has taken another direction from this, and will not be near you, dear child; so be at rest,” said Lyon Berners soothingly.
“Oh! I am so glad! You don’t know how I fear that woman,” replied Rosa. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Cruel as the grave

“ But what are words? You are a man of deeds. Your presence of mind has saved us both!” said Lyon Berners earnestly.
“And now to horse,” said Captain Pendleton, taking Mrs. Berners under his guidance, while Mr. Berners brought on the valise and travelling bag.
Captain Pendleton placed Sybil in her saddle, whispering encouragingly,
“Be strong and hopeful. This necessary flight is a temporary evil, intended to save you from a permanent, and even perhaps a fatal wrong. Be patient, and time shall vindicate you and bring you back.” ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Cruel as the grave

“ Lyon Berners felt more than ever convinced that his dear Sybil had been the victim of repeated nightmares; that all the seemingly supernatural phenomena of the Haunted Chapel had been only the creation of her own morbid imagination; that nothing connected with the mystery had been real, with the exception of the appearance of the girl in the red cloak, whom Mr. Berners decided to be an ordinary human habitué of the place. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Cruel as the grave

“ Rosa Blondelle’s whole life lay in these sentimental flirtations and platonic friendships. Without a lover, she did not care to live at all. Yet hers was a sham love, though her victims were not often sham lovers. With her fair and most innocent face, Rosa Blondelle was false and shallow. And Lyon Berners knew this ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Cruel as the grave

“ It was the mask I meant. The mask that was Sybil’s partner in the quadrille which we danced with them,” laughed Lyon Berners.
“Oh, yes, I know. And they stood opposite to us. So that we danced with them more than with any one else! And my own hand turned cold every time it had to touch his. What a ghastly mask!”
“Yes, indeed. I wonder any man should choose such a one,” added Lyon.
“Who is he? Who is that mask?” ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Tried for Her Life

“ Sheridan. "Minnie is a good girl, but she is little more than a child; and though I could answer for her honesty, I couldn't for her discretion."
"Then," said Lyon Berners very gravely, "then let what I am about to read to you remain an inviolable secret between us four."
"Certainly," answered Sheridan.
"Shall we swear it?" inquired Pendleton.
"Yes! yes! if necessary. But, oh! do go on! It is something about Sybil," impatiently exclaimed Beatrix.
"Yes, it is something about Sybil. You need not swear to be secret on this subject. You have given me your words, and that is sufficient. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Cruel as the grave

“ No one remained in it but Sybil and Miss Tabby, watching the dead.
Sybil sat near the head of the body, and Miss Tabby near the feet.
At the sight of his doomed young wife, Lyon Berners senses reeled again.
“She is so inexperienced in all the ways of the world, so ignorant of the ways of the law! Oh, does she know—does she even dream of the awful position, the deadly danger in which she stands? No; she is unconscious of all peril. She evidently believes that the explanation she gave us here, and which satisfies her friends, will convince all others. Oh, Sybil! Sybil! ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Cruel as the grave

“ I should call it rather the ‘Valley of the Sun.’”
“Would not the ‘Valley of the Pyrotechnics’ do as well?” inquired Lyon Berners, with dry humor.
“I think it would,” replied Rosa, quite seriously, “for certainly this morning, with this glorious sunshine and these glowing, sparkling woods and waters, the place is a perfect spectacle of fire-works!”
“You view the scenery at its best and brightest. It is never so beautiful and brilliant as on a clear sunny autumn noon-day. At all other seasons, and at all other hours, it is gloomy enough. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, Tried for Her Life

“ She does not suffer now. Thank Heaven for this veil of insanity drawn between her and the horrors to come! Pray heaven that she may never come to her senses while she lives in this world," muttered Lyon Berners.
Captain Pendleton stepped back and gave his sister his arm.
"You will go with her to the prison?" he inquired.
"Yes, and stay with her there, if I may be permitted," answered Beatrix, who was weeping bitterly.
"My dear, my noble sister! how I admire and thank you!" fervently exclaimed Clement Pendleton, as he led her after Sybil. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

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