Excerpt from Ashley, and Other Stories The following stories are now published in a collected form for the first time. To the reader, therefore, they will be virtually as new matter. It will be observed that in the first three stories some of the characters are reproduced, though, in one instance, merely a name - that of Chase. Mrs. Henry Wood intended. Had she lived, to weave these stories into one romance. How this would have been accomplished by the expe rienced hand of the author of East Lynne we do not doubt. Fresh plot and new characters would have been introduced into the narrative, so connecting one story with another. But the pen was laid aside before the purpose was carried out; and it only remains for the' reader to imagine for himself a chain of circumstances by which these now separate threads would have been gathered into a consecutive and complete whole. We have stated the fact because it undoubtedly adds to the interest of the following pages, which are amongst the most graphic and vigorous of the stories written by Mrs. Henry Wood. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.