Cast a Long Shadow Author:Mary Emily Pearce "When Ellen Wainwright was married to Richard Lancy in July, 1873, the day was so hot that the church doors were left wide open and towards the end of the ceremony a stray dog ran in and stood howling in the central aisle... later... people remembered the dog in church and spoke of it as some sort of omen.... 'Such a fine handsome couple they ma... more »de that day! And everything seemingly set so fair! It warn't for me to cast a shadow.'"
This marriage should have given Ellen and her husband the security they both needed and deserved, for Richard was a skilled miller and prosperous general dealer and Ellen a loving, helpful, and sensible wife. Soon, however, Richard's attitude toward money was to cause her anxiety. And later, a terrifying experience was to increase his already growing eccentricity to dangerous proportions, forcing Ellen and their young son into an equivocal and problem-filled way of life. For them the shadow that had been cast at the wedding was to prove a long one indeed, and they would not easily find their way into the light.« less