THE

DISCARDED SON.

A TALE.

Habant:

PRINTED BY 1. SKELTON.

1

THE

DISCARDED SON;

OR,

HAUNT OF THE BANDITTI :

A Tale.

IN FIVE VOLUMES.

BY

REGINA MARIA ROCHE,

AUTHOR OF THE

CHILDREN OF THE ABBEY; MAID OF THE HAMLET;
VICAR OF LANSDOWN; TRADITION OF THE
CASTLE; MUNSTER COTTAGE BOY; CASTLE CHAPEL;
TRECOTHICK BOWER, &c. &c.

A. K. NEWMAN & CO. LEADENHALL-STREET.

1825.

SJK

R445D5

V.2.

THE

DISCARDED SON.

CHAP. I.

"Under how hard a fate are women born!
Priz'd to their ruin, or exposed to scorn.
If we want beauty, we of love despair,
And are besieg'd, like frontier towns, if fair."

WALL.

ELIZABETH Could not conceive what could be the cause of the malignant and dis

ainful glances she received from Mrs. Ruthven and Miss Rae. She had been introduced to them in a way to entitle her to their respect, and was fully sensible there was nothing in her own manner calculated to offend. If the rest of Mrs. Dunbar's visitors deported themselves in a