A Fair Fraud — page 259: what you’re looking at

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

248 . A Fair Fraud assuring her uncle and aunt that, as Kenneth was of an age to please himself, it was probable that he would do so whether they liked it or not, and that as in the end they would be forced to accept her as a daughter-in-law, they might as well do it first as last, and with a good grace. So that—as we know that constant dropping will wear out a stone—by dint of dwelling upon the subject, they began at last to get more accustomed to the thought. All this time—for some six weeks after the catastrophe of William Bradford’s death— Marion’s own affairs remained in abeyance. She heard nothing at all of Naylor. Over and over again her uncle and aunt, who were naturally interested in that gentleman’s dis-. appearance from the scene, questioned her narrowly as to whether she had received any letter from him, and when she always denied having done so, they not unnaturally drew their own conclusions from his silence. ‘It’s as clear as a pikestaff that he can have meant nothing serious by his attentions,’ said Mr Drury at length to his wife. ‘These London men are like that; they make love to a girl for a day or two, and then they go away and forget her; it’s very bad form, I consider, and I am sorry for poor little Marion, for I’m sure I did all I could to bring the fellow to the scratch—but her case ECOMicoOoKS.CoOnm