Slighted love : $b or, At her heart's expense

"Slighted love : or, At her heart's expense" by Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller is a novel written in the late 19th century. It follows Italy Vale, a striking young woman determined to clear her mother’s name after her father’s murder, as she enters her wealthy kinsman’s New England home and confronts old scandals, dangerous secrets, and fraught romances. The story weaves melodrama and mystery around inheritance, social stigma, and the hazards of love, with key figures including the reserved heir Francis Murray, the charming Percy Seabright, and the volatile Mrs. Dunn. The opening of the story reveals Italy’s mother confessing that Italy’s father was murdered and that she herself was tried and acquitted, yet condemned by public opinion; years later, after her mother’s death, Italy goes to Francis Murray’s seaside estate, The Lodge, suspecting him because he benefited from the entail. Tension rises as Italy somnambulates into his library in search of her father’s missing diary, Francis confronts her motives, and she flees to Boston to seek her mother’s old lawyer. There she is deceived by a clerk, Craig Severn, lured to a private house, and nearly assaulted before a mysterious shot kills him; found later walking in her sleep, she is retrieved by Francis and brought back. She meets Percy Seabright—her father’s friend—and faints; newspapers soon report Severn’s body found with a bullet wound. Emmett Harlow gently courts Italy and is refused, while jealous Alys Audenreid and her aunt Mrs. Dunn bristle; during a yacht outing Italy is pushed overboard, rescued by Ralph Allen and Francis, and Mrs. Dunn spitefully accuses Emmett before Francis quells the charge. These chapters set the central quest—finding the truth behind the murder and the missing diary—amid simmering jealousy, peril, and uncertain loyalties.