A Fair Fraud — page 264: what you’re looking at

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

A Fair Fraud 253 connections, and a certain amount of fortune of her own, were what he had always meant to find in the future Mrs Naylor. He had often admitted to himself that, much as he preferred a bachelor existence, yet that there would come a time when a wife might be in a measure a necessity to a man who was pushing himself well upward in life. There must be someone, he supposed, to do the honours of his house, | to sit at the head of his table, and to look after his servants. This ‘someone’ must, however, be a sensible woman of the world, for whom he would entertain a great deal of esteem’ and respect, but who would certainly not cause his heart to beat one whit faster than usual, nor produce in him any of the unwonted sensations which he now experienced. He was somewhat amazed, and a good deal amused at himself when he realised that his heart was actually thumping with a mingling of fear and of joy as the train slackened speed into Churston Station. And all because of a little girl of twenty! A little girl, too, who was neither beautiful nor well connected — whose station in life was lowly, and who had not a penny piece of her own to add to the amount of his own pro- fessional income. _ ‘I suppose I am a fool,’ said Mr Naylor to himself, as he put himself and his belongings inte COMMUG JOO (Si C(O)