02471cam a22003613u 4500 76728 UtSlPG 20260610134757.0 m cr n 260607r20251922utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d UtSlPG en iso639-1 PR Freeman, R. Austin (Richard Austin), 1862-1943 Helen Vardon's confession Salt Lake City, UT : Project Gutenberg, 2025 1 online resource : multiple file formats text txt rdacontent computer c rdamedia online resource cr rdacarrier Release date is 2025-08-25 an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer Helen Vardon’s Confession by R. Austin Freeman is a detective novel written in the early 20th century. It centers on Helen Vardon, a solicitor’s daughter, whose father’s misapplied trust funds lead to blackmail and a coerced marriage proposal. The narrative promises a blend of domestic tragedy, romance, and crime as Helen’s sacrifice draws her into deeper peril. The opening of the novel presents Helen deciding to set down her story after glimpsing a first white hair, a small shock that recalls past terrors. She overhears a devastating conversation: her father has improperly used trust money, faces possible imprisonment, and a powerful acquaintance, Lewis Otway, offers to cover the loss if she will marry him. Fearing her father may take a desperate way out, Helen secretly meets Otway, signs a written promise to marry under strict conditions, and obtains his letter that temporarily removes the threat, which she delivers unseen to calm her father. Over the next days she hides her plan, writes a brief farewell-explanation, and arranges a clandestine ceremony. At the mission church, numb and detached, she stands with Otway as the hurried, hushed marriage service begins, her vows spoken as a grim act of rescue rather than love. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Originally published: London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1922 Detective and mystery stories England -- Fiction Thorndyke, Doctor (Fictitious character) -- Fiction Married women -- Fiction Artists -- Fiction https://bibliotecaparticular.casafernandopessoa.pt/8-199 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76728 117453 117453