A Fair Fraud — page 16: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A Fair Fraud 5 write to every relation that they possessed, either on their father’s or their mother’s side, and to make a strong appeal to their charity. Now, in spite of all that has been said to the contrary, there are still a great many kind- hearted and charitable people in the world who are ready to respond to such an appeal, espect- ally when there is an element of duty about it that has been put plainly and eloquently before them by an able advocate, such as was the Reverend Mr Johnson. Right nobly did the relatives of the late Mr and Mrs Blake respond to the worthy vicar’s pleadings. The daughters were one and all helped and befriended, or put into the way of earning their own living. One was placed as music teacher in a school in Liverpool; two were started in a small fancywork business in Manchester; another, again, was sent abroad to study painting; another, who had chosen sick nursing as her vocation, was placed in a London hospital; and one, more adventurous than the rest, had been started off to India in the service of the Zenana Mission Society. There remained only little Marion, the youngest, and she, being but fifteen at the time, was more difficult to dispose of than the others. Each relation had undertaken the responsibility of one daughter, and so Marion was left to Mr Drury, who agreed to take care (C(O) a (C 5)O) 0)