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Synopsis of “Stella Maris/^
Stella Blount v;as an orphan, tremendously rich, living with her Uncle and Aunt, Sir Blount and Lady Eleanor, in a big stone castle by the I sea. She was afflicted with a mysterious disease which had paralyzed her from childhood, and her room was always kept lighted, day and night. The twinkling light, seen from far off on the ocean, led John Rica, a distant relative, to name her Stella Maris Star of the Sea and by this name she was known for the rest of her life.
Stella Maris was an unusually beautiful girl, tenderly loved and surrounded by every luxury wealth could command. Separated from the world and all knowledge of sordidness and sorrow kept from her, she developed an angelic nature and a purity of mind and heart which caused all to love her as an almost supernatural being.
In his youth, John Risca had entered into an unfortunate marriage with a girl of lowly origin, whose beauty had infatuated him. He discovered that she had a secret appetite for liquor, which she proceeded to satisfy, despite his pleadings and protestations. He separated from her, though he contributed generously to her support. Ten years of dissipation reduced her to bestiality, and as she could get no servant to remain in her service she took little Unity Blake from an orphanage. Unity was a homely child, and if anything, gifted with less than an ordinary degree of intelligence. She submitted without complaint to the cruelties of Mrs. Risca until one day, in a fit of rage, the drunken woman beat Unity with a red hot poker, for which she was arrested and sent to the penitentiary for three years.
Overwhelmed with shame at the publicity of the trial, John Risca
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