The Changed Brides

A storm-lashed wedding night becomes the opening stage for a tale of love, secrecy, and betrayal in The Changed Brides. At a lonely Scotch toll-house, old Andy Birney and his compassionate wife Jenny watch the weather worsen as a carriage fights its way through the darkness, carrying a cheerful young man determined to reach Old Lyon Hall for a long-delayed marriage. But the night's true mystery arrives in the form of a drenched stranger who begs only a moment's shelter before pressing onward, exhausted and terrified, toward the same house and the same wedding. As the story widens, private passions collide with public honor. In glittering Washington society, Alexander Lyon escorts the beautiful Anna through a whirl of entertainments, growing jealous of Richard Hammond's attentions and drawing the scrutiny of General Lyon. The general's stern rebuke exposes the moral stakes of the household: loyalty, purity, and duty are set against flirtation, rivalry, and hidden wrongdoing. Yet Alexander faces a deeper crisis still, for beneath his outward conduct lies a secret marriage to Drusilla. When he returns home expecting delay and escape, he finds Cedarwood silent, Drusilla missing, and dread closing in. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.