Ward, Mary Augusta: Miss Bretherton. v1. 8 Jun 2014
 

Mary Augusta Ward née Arnold; (11 June 1851 – 24 March 1920), was a British novelist who wrote under her married name as Mrs Humphry Ward.

Excerpt
She raised herself suddenly, and, as he knelt beside her, he felt her warm breath on his cheek, and a tear dropped on his hands, which her own were blindly and timidly seeking.
‘Oh!’ she whispered, or rather sobbed, ‘I never dreamt of it. I never thought of anything like this. But—do not leave me again. I could not bear it.’