A dreadful temptation

In Short

First published in 1883, Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller's novel is a melodramatic tale of high-society ambition, bitter spites, and secret identities. When Xenie Carroll is discarded by the wealthy Howard Templeton, she marries his decrepit uncle, John St. John, intending to disinherit the nephew out of spite. The old man dies suddenly before securing her victory, driving Xenie into a desperate deception alongside her lookalike sister, Lora. Filled with wild sea rescues, mistaken corpses, and dramatic reversals, the story endures as a vivid slice of late nineteenth-century serial romance.

The Story

The narrative opens in Trinity Church, where fashionable spectators whisper over the uneven union of Xenie Carroll, a penniless country beauty, and John St. John, an infirm millionaire with "one foot in the grave." Xenie’s aunt has engineered the match to secure financial standing, but Xenie’s true motivation is cold vengeance. She was previously loved and cast aside by St. John’s nephew, Howard Templeton, a luxury-loving young man who abandoned her to pursue an heiress. Driven by bitterness, Xenie endures her husband's jealous outbursts and sudden fits of violence, eventually forcing the frail millionaire to promise he will cut Templeton out of his will entirely.

Before the new will can be drawn up, St. John dies suddenly in a fit, leaving his entire estate to Templeton. Outraged at being foiled, Xenie returns home to plot further punishment. Meanwhile, her soft-hearted sister Lora, who looks remarkably like Xenie, has secretly married a handsome sea captain named Jack Mainwaring and borne a child. When Mainwaring is reported lost at sea, Lora falls desperately ill. Capitalizing on their uncanny resemblance, Xenie concocts a scheme to impersonate Lora and use the child to secure her family's fortune while undermining Templeton, who remains unaware of the exact nature of their plot.

Tragedy strikes during a coastal storm. Lora disappears from her chamber, and a battered female body wearing her shawl washes ashore, leading Xenie and her mother to believe Lora has drowned. In reality, Lora has wandered off in a fever and is taken in by a poor French widow, Dame Videlet. Howard Templeton happens upon the sick woman while traveling, recognizes her peril, and pays for her care, though Lora succumbs to the illness after learning her baby is missing. Unaware of Lora’s death, Xenie carries on the charade in Europe and high society, believing her secret safe.

However, Templeton reveals that he recognized Xenie’s identity almost immediately, quietly tracking her moves out of curiosity and a stubborn refusal to yield his inheritance. The plot reaches its climax when Jack Mainwaring unexpectedly returns alive from his shipwreck, demanding his child, and Lora’s actual fate is uncovered. Exposed and humbled, Xenie’s web of lies collapses, forcing her to restore the contested wealth. In the aftermath, the fierce hatred between Xenie and Templeton softens through shared trial and mutual realization, culminating in a genuine romantic reconciliation built on true affection rather than ambition or spite.

How It Unfolds

The sacrificial wedding Xenie Carroll walks down the aisle with the frail, elderly millionaire John St. John under the critical gaze of New York society. She tolerates his possessive behavior and infirmities solely to position herself to strike at his heir.

A coerced promise After St. John strikes her in a fit of half-insane fury, Xenie uses the incident to intimidate him. She demands that he alter his will to leave Howard Templeton without a single dollar, a terms he weakly accepts before dying suddenly without completing the paperwork.

The lookalike's grief Following her husband's death, Xenie retires to the country where her sister Lora mourns the presumed death of her secret husband, Captain Jack Mainwaring. Desperate for revenge, Xenie leverages her physical resemblance to Lora to launch a complicated scheme of identity swapping and inheritance claims.

Lost in the tempest During a stormy night on the coast, Lora disappears from her bed in a delirium, leaving behind only a shawl found near a drowned woman's body. Xenie and her mother mourn the loss, unaware that Lora has wandered into the care of a poor local widow.

A unexpected salvation Howard Templeton discovers the sick, unidentified woman in a seaside village and finances her medical care, but she dies of fever before she can be reunited with her child. Meanwhile, Templeton confronts Xenie on the fog-shrouded coast, revealing he has seen through her identity trap all along.

The ghost returns Captain Jack Mainwaring arrives alive from his shipwreck to claim his son, shattering Xenie's fraudulent claims to the estate. Exposed before her family and society, Xenie's scheme breaks down completely, forcing a total surrender of her ill-gotten gains.

Reconciliation in the garden Months after her humiliation, Xenie encounters Howard Templeton in a blooming rose garden. Stripped of their past bitterness and false ambitions, the two admit their lingering love and choose to unite in a genuine marriage.

The People

• Xenie Carroll (later St. John): A stunning, proud young woman who trades her youth to an old man to punish the lover who abandoned her. Her relentless pursuit of revenge leads her to commit severe deceptions, though she ultimately finds redemption when her schemes fail.
• Howard Templeton: A handsome, easygoing young man of fortune who initially chooses money over love. He proves sharper than his idle demeanor suggests, tracking Xenie’s trickery while secretly retaining his deep affection for her.
• John St. John: A wealthy, decrepit millionaire whose vanity drives him to buy a young bride. His declining mental state and sudden death trigger the core conflict over his vast estate.
• Lora Carroll (Mainwaring): Xenie's gentle, fragile sister whose secret marriage and resemblance to Xenie make her an unwitting pawn in the family's financial maneuvers before her tragic death.
• Captain Jack Mainwaring: Lora's brave husband, a sea captain believed lost at sea, whose unexpected return dismantles Xenie's fraudulent schemes and reclaims his infant son.
• Mrs. Egerton: Xenie's world-wise, ambitious aunt who orchestrates high-society marriages for financial advancement and encourages her niece to secure wealthy matches.

In Its Own Voice

"The bridegroom was John St. John, a millionaire of high birth and standing in the city where he lived, but so old and infirm that people said of him that 'he had one foot in the grave and the other on the brink of it,'"

This opening scene sets the mercenary tone of high-society marriage markets, establishing the extreme contrast between youth and age that fuels the plot.

"I have as much money as I want, only--only I want to take that from Howard Templeton because I want to humble him and wring his heart."

Xenie reveals the obsessive nature of her motivation, showing that her actions are driven entirely by hurt pride and a desire to destroy her former lover's financial ease.

"Two souls with but a single thought, / Two hearts that beat as one."

The story closes on this classic romantic sentiment, marking the dramatic transition from a marriage of convenience to an ideal romantic union.

What It's Really About

Beneath its melodramatic twists of lost wills and swapped identities, the novel examines the destructive nature of mercenary marriages and the ruinous cost of obsession. It presents a society where young women are expected to trade their beauty for security, reducing sacred vows to mere commercial transactions. Xenie’s descent into fraud shows how bitterness can corrupt an otherwise noble nature, turning grief and family ties into tools for vengeance. The narrative ultimately argues that money purchased without affection brings only misery, paranoia, and moral collapse. True restoration occurs only when the characters abandon their financial scheming, face public accountability, and allow authentic affection to replace pride and spite.

Why Read It Today

A Dreadful Temptation offers modern readers an entertaining glance into the world of nineteenth-century serial sensation fiction. Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller constructs a fast-paced narrative filled with dramatic confrontations, secret babies, coastal storms, and high-society intrigue. The prose is unpretentious and relies on sharp dialogue, heightened emotion, and sudden plot twists that keep the story moving forward briskly.

Readers should be prepared for typical period conventions, including theatrical speeches, heavy reliance on coincidences, and clear-cut moral lessons. The characters operate in a world of extreme sentiment where women fall into fatal fevers from grief and men recognize their true loves in dramatic garden reconciliations. Those who enjoy Gilded Age melodramas, historical popular fiction, or classic revenge tropes will find this a quick, engaging read that highlights the popular literary tastes of late nineteenth-century American readers.

<ElicitationsGroup message="Explore this historical sensational novel further:"> <Elicitation label="Analyze 19th-century sensation novel tropes in this book" query="Analyze how A Dreadful Temptation utilizes typical 19th-century sensation novel tropes like identity theft, secret wills, and sudden fevers."/> <Elicitation label="Compare Xenie Carroll to other Victorian literary heroines" query="Compare Xenie Carroll's character arc and motivations to other female protagonists in 19th-century sensation fiction."/> </ElicitationsGroup>