Excerpt from The Ordeal, Vol. 1 of 3: A Novel Laura awoke, and shuddered with horror, for her arm rested on the clay-cold brow of her departed motherjgshe gazed With hope less despondency on the altered features of her beloved parent. The iron hand of grief had'weighedtheavily on 'her, vexhaus'ted Lher strength, annihilated her ideas. 'deep sleep hung on'her; but'it was like the sleep of death; the lethargy of despair. 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.