The Opal

This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design. Mary Elton is a plainspoken, sharp-witted young woman whose intelligence and irony make her both irresistible and overlooked. In Boston drawing rooms, she serves as confidante to the handsome, easygoing Philip Morley, even as she quietly carries a love for him that she has never dared to claim. Into their world comes Edith Dudley, a dazzling beauty of mixed French, Kentucky, and European background, whose brilliance, tact, and emotional elusiveness unsettle everyone around her. At teas and social gatherings, Edith adapts effortlessly to clergymen, skeptics, philanthropists, and students alike, charming each by speaking just enough of their language to seem perfectly understood. Yet beneath her glamour lies sadness, and beneath Mary's wit, pain. As Philip grows fascinated by Edith, Mary's own feelings become impossible to hide, leading to a confession that is as selfless as it is heartbreaking: she loves him not to possess him, but to awaken his higher self. Their final parting is tender and tragic, shaped by pride, timing, and the cruel comedy of life. When illness and recovery intervene, the story deepens into a bittersweet meditation on love, sacrifice, and the hidden cost of surviving.