The Evil Genius: A Domestic Story — page 175: what you’re looking at

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

164 THE EVIL GENIUS. never told mea lie. We have both seen the same newspaper, of course—and you have been the first to clear the thing up. That’s it, isn’t it?” ‘* Yes.” ‘*T wonder who this other Mrs. Ormond is. Did you find out ?” NOL” ‘‘She’s not Catherine, at any rate; I, for one, shall go home with a lighter heart.” He took his brother’s arm to return to the other platform. ‘‘ Do you know, Randal, I was almost afraid that Catherine was the woman. The devil take the thing, and the people who write in it!” He snatched a newspaper out of his pocket as he spoke, tore it in half, and threw it away. ‘‘ Malcolm meant well, poor fel- low,” he said, referring to the old servant, ‘‘ but he made a mis- erable man of me, for all that.” Not satisfied with gossip in private, the greedy public appetite devours gossip in print, and wants more of it than any one editor can supply. Randal picked up the torn newspaper. It was not the newspaper which he had bought at the station. Herbert had been reading arival journal, devoted to the interests of society —in which the report of Mrs. Ormond’s marriage was repeated, with this difference that it boldly alluded to Captain Bennydeck by name. ‘‘Did Malcolm give you this?” Randal asked. ‘“Yes; he and the servant next door subscribe to take it in, and Malcolm thought it might amuse me. It drove me out of the house and into the railway. If it had driven me out of my mind, I shouldn’t have been surprised.” ‘“‘Gently, Herbert! Supposing the report had been true——’ ‘* After what you have told me, why should I suppose any thing of the sort?” ‘“Don't be angry; and do pray remember that the divorce allows you and Catherine to marry again if you like.” Herbert became more unreasonablethan ever. ‘‘If Catherine does think of marrying again,” he said, ‘‘ the man will have to reckon first with me. But thatisnot the point. You seem to have forgotten that the woman at Buck’s Hotel is described as a widow. The bare doubt that my divorced wife might be the woman was bad enough—but what I wanted to find out was how she had passed off her false pretense on our child. That was what maddened me! No more of it now. Have you seen Catherine lately ?” ‘* Not lately.” ‘‘T suppose she is as handsome as ever. When will you ask her to let me see Kitty ?” ‘‘ Leave that to me,” was the one reply which Randal could venture to make at that moment. The serious embarrassments that surrounded him were thick- ening fast. His naturally frank nature urged him to undeceive Herbert. If he followed his inclinations in the near neighbor- hood of the hotel, who could say what disasters might not ensue, in his brother’s present frame of mind? If he made the ECOMMICLOOOKKS (c@) m