The Craze of Christina — page 56: what you’re looking at

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

52 The Craze of Christina. deal of by her parents and family. She was, in short, the flower of the flock, and main- tained a certain superiority of manner over the others. This she achieved, not by means of beauty, for she was not at all beautiful, nor yet by talent, for she was not really clever. At the same time she was not a young woman who could ever have been passed over in a crowd. She was tall and had what is called a **smart’”’ figure, and she knew how to put her clothes on. She also knew how to talk; she had a great deal of assurance and could converse volubly on anv given subject, however little she really knew about it. Maud always took the lead in the home circle, and her mother considered her a wonderful girl, and had great hopes of her making a brilliant match, and so clearing the road for her less remarkable sisters. As a matter of fact, Mrs. Ommaney firmly believed that Maud’s greatest opportunity had now come; and she had already confided to her worthy but somewhat slow-witted husband that this young Clifford had only to meet their gifted daughter to fall at once over head and ears in love with her. ‘I see the finger of Providence in that young man’s coming to Esselton,’’ she had said to Comichbooks:co