Laurel Vane; or, The Girls' Conspiracy

Delightful little bit of classic melodramatic fluff. The cover's pretty bad–not even a try at a portrayal of the petite blonde heroine–but the story easily held my interest.

Laurel Vane's father died quite suddenly (we are not told the cause), leaving her with one last article he'd written before his last illness; the money is needed to pay for his burial. She goes to his publisher, Mr. Gordon, to turn in the article and receive payment; but Gordon is away in the country. However, pretty young Beatrix Gordon overhears the desperate girl asking after him and goes to her, paying the money needed for the article and getting the grateful orphan Laurel's promise that she will do “anything in gratitude.”

Laurel is turned out of her New York boarding-house and insulted by an unscrupulous man within the next few days, and feels as though Beatrix's summons a few days later is her only hope. Beatrix is engaged to a young businessman, and her parents are sending her to the countryside to live with an old friend of her mother's (whom she has never met) in an attempt to get her away from young Wentworth. So Beatrix sends Laurel as herself, along with her maid Clarice, while she herself runs away and marries the man she loves.

To young Laurel, now known as Beatrix, the quiet country home is a wonderful haven. But of course nothing in such a deception can be simple...

The ebook is available from Project Gutenburg.