Guardian Angel, The

Guardian Angel, The, novel by Holmes, published in 1868.

Myrtle Hazard, an orphan, is reared by her spinster aunt, Miss Silence Withers, whose brother Malachi leaves Myrtle a fortune, contingent upon a certain lawsuit. When the girl is 15 she rebels against her tyrannous aunt and runs away disguised as a boy. Endangered in her boat by a precipitous waterfall, she is rescued by Clement Lindsay, a talented young artist, and brought home by Master Byles Gridley, her “guardian angel.” The shock leaves her in a nervous condition, which is taken advantage of by Miss Silence and others who try to convert Myrtle to Calvinism. Later she becomes conscious of her fascinating beauty, when she is courted by the poetaster Gifted Hopkins, the ambitious lawyer Murray Bradshaw, and Clement, who is, however, engaged to Susan Posey. She refuses a proposal from Bradshaw, who enlists in the Civil War and is killed. Susan falls in love with Gifted Hopkins and breaks her engagement to Clement. Through Gridley's aid, Myrtle receives her inheritance and marries Clement, who has become a colonel in the war.