Thorns of Regret

This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design. At Augustus Barrington's funeral, the family's glittering surface gives way to a legacy of ambition, betrayal, and revenge. Barrington's rise to wealth comes at the cost of two marriages: first to the plain, devoted Miss Byrd, whose broken heart leaves behind a son taught to hate his father, and then to the beautiful Kathleen, whose brief happiness ends in tragedy after Byrd poisons the household with suspicion and cruelty. When Barrington dies, the reading of his will ignites the old war, rewarding Byrd with the fortune and humiliating Delmar and Maisie with scraps. From that ruin, heartbreak spreads outward. Delmar learns that Josephine's love depended on his money, and his shock hardens into fury and vows of revenge. Maisie, believing herself abandoned, prepares to leave for Washington, only to be stopped by Delmar's sudden confession and proposal. Separated again by uncertainty, she endures months of waiting before returning home in hope of reunion. But Castellane holds one final blow: she arrives just in time to discover that Barrington is about to marry Josephine Shirley, and her dream of happiness collapses into devastating betrayal.