Excerpt from Helen: A Tale We read that the grief for her young brother's loss told upon her own health. She was often confined to the sofa, and forbidden to use her pen; her idle fancy began once more to weave romances, and so it was that she planned the story of [film and made her notes for it. The work progressed slowly. As she herself recovered she was absorbed in other work and daily preoccupation. 'there were difficulties in Ireland then as now. Rents, repairs, and tenants to be attended to. We are told that she herself looked after all these: 'the letting of the village houses, the drains, gutters, and pathways, the employment of the poor; in short, all the hundred and one duties that devolve upon the steward of landed property.' She went straight from the rent-book to her little desk and to the ms. Of Helen. 'and yet, ' says her stepmother, 'she never wrote fiction with more life and spirit than when she had been for some time with the hard realities of life, ' com bining, as she says herself, with all these practical and necessary occupations, 'thinking three hours a day of Helen to what purpose I dare not say.' One of her sisters, Mrs. Butler, specially encouraged her to go on at a time when she had nearly thrust the work aside in despair. 'i am afraid you will be tired of Helen before you become acquainted with her, ' she writes. 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.