The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Grey Woman and other Tales, by
Mrs. (Elizabeth) Gaskell

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Title: The Grey Woman and other Tales

Author: Mrs. (Elizabeth) Gaskell

Release Date: April 29, 2009 [EBook #28636]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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[Illustration:

THE GREY WOMAN
AND
OTHER TALES.

MRS. GASKELL

SMITH ELDER & Co
65 CORNHILL
1865]

THE GREY WOMAN.
AND OTHER TALES.

BY MRS. GASKELL,

AUTHOR OF "MARY BARTON," "NORTH AND SOUTH," "SYLVIA'S
LOVERS," "COUSIN PHILLIS," "CRANFORD," ETC.

ILLUSTRATED EDITION.

LONDON:
SMITH, ELDER AND CO., 65, CORNHILL.
M.DCCC.LXV.

[_The Right of Translation is reserved._]

CONTENTS. PAGE

THE GREY WOMAN 5
CURIOUS IF TRUE 82
SIX WEEKS AT HEPPENHEIM 105
LIBBIE MARSH'S THREE ERAS 158
CHRISTMAS STORMS AND SUNSHINE 197
HAND AND HEART 213
BESSY'S TROUBLES AT HOME 240
DISAPPEARANCES 267

THE GREY WOMAN.

PORTION I.

There is a mill by the Neckar-side, to which many people resort for
coffee, according to the fashion which is almost national in Germany.
There is nothing particularly attractive in the situation of this mill;
it is on the Mannheim (the flat and unromantic) side of Heidelberg.
The river turns the mill-wheel with a plenteous gushing sound; the
out-buildings and the dwelling-house of the miller form a well-kept
dusty quadrangle. Again, further from the river, there is a garden full
of willows, and arbours, and flower-beds not well kept, but very profuse
in flowers and luxuriant creepers, knotting and looping the arbours
together. In each of these arbours is a stationary table of white
painted wood, and light moveable chairs of the same colour and material.

I went to drink coffee there with some friends in 184--. The stately old
miller came out to greet us, as some of the party were known to him of
old. He was of a grand