The Evil Genius: A Domestic Story — page 197: what you’re looking at

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

186 THE EVIL GENIUS. ‘¢ Yes.” ‘*To-morrow,” he resumed, ‘‘ Il am going to see another poor irl who is alone in the world like you. If I tell you where she ives, will you ask her if I am a person to be trusted ?” He had taken a letter from his pocket while he was speaking, and he now tore off a part of the second leaf and gave it to her. ‘‘T have only lately,” he said, ‘‘received the address from a friend.” As he offered that explanation, the shrill sound of a child’s voice, raised in anger and entreaty, reached their ears from the neighborhood of the hotel. Faithful little Kitty had made her escape, determined to return to Sydney—had been overtaken by the maid—and had been carried back in Susan’s arms to the house. Sydney imagined that she was not perhaps alone in rec- ognizing the voice. The stranger who had been so kind to her did certainly start and look round. The stillness of the night was disturbed no more. The man turned again to the person who had so strongly interested him, The person was gone. In fear of being followed, Sydney hurried to the railway- station. By the light in the carriage she looked for the first time at the fragment of the letter and the card. The stranger had presented her with her own address! And when she looked at the card, the name was Bennydeck. CHAPTER XLVII. BETTER DO IT THAN WISH IT DONE. MoRrE than once, on one and the same day, the captain had been guilty of a weakness which would have taken his oldest friends by surprise, if they had seen him at the moment. He hesitated. A man who has commanded ships and has risked his life in the regions of the frozen deep is a man formed by nature and taught by habit to meet emergency face to face, to see his course straight before him, and to take it, lead him where it may. But nature and habit, formidable forces as they are, find their master when they encounter the passion of love. At once perplexed and distressed by that startling change in Catherine which he had observed when her child approached her, Bennydeck’s customary firmness failed him, when the course of conduct toward his betrothed wife which it might be most becoming to follow presented itself to him as a problem to be solved. When Kitty asked him to accompany her nurse- maid and herself on their return to the hotel he had refused, be- cause he felt reluctant to intrude himself on Catherine’s notice until she was ready to admit him to her confidence of her own free will. Left alone, he began to doubt whether delicacy did really require him to make the sacrifice which he had con- templated not five minutes since. It was surely possible that Catherine might be waiting to see him, and might then offer the explanation which would prove to be equally a relief on both EORMICLOOOKS. EO mn