Geoffrey's Victory by Mrs Georgie Sheldon — page 185: what you’re looking at

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

GEOFFREY VISITS THE SCENE OF THE TRAGEDY. 181 place to place; went to Texas on a sheep ranch for a few years, and finally turned up in New York, where I be- caine separated from hii, and could not be found. Just about this time he became convinced that the officers were on his track—they must have been those who were working for Mrs. Henly’s thousand-dollar reward—and he was so frightened he suddenly shipped ror Austra- lia.” ‘Poor fellow,” said the farmer, sympathetically, ‘ he must have suffered keenly. But this is the strangest part of the whole story. I never imagined that we should get the sequel to that tragedy over yonder. Was the man kind to you? I used to think he was not over fond of you when you were a little fellow.” ‘‘No one could have been more kind than he was, as long as I was with him,” Geoffrey said, gravely, as-he recalled ail that Jack had so recently told him, He thought, tuo, as long as Margery had kept the secret of his having been nearly murdered also, it would be best _ to still preserve silence upon that point. ‘‘It was my own fault,” he continued, “that I was lost, for I wandered away without his knowledge, and he was not able to find me, although he labored faithfully to do s9, until driven to desperation by the be1ief that he was being tracked.” “How did you learn that he had sailed for Australia, if you were lost before he went?” “T loarned that later,” Geoffrey briefly replied. “And what became of you?” ‘A philanthropic gentleman became interested in me, adopted me, and has given me a good education.” “ Well, well, well! wonders will never cease! It’s a strangely romantic tale, young man. But how about your own father?” questioned the farmer. “That is a mystery which I came here to try to solve,” Geoffrey returned, anita troubled, for he seemed to be no nearer the solution than ever, “ All that I really know about my father is that he was called Captain William Dale, and that he at one time owned shares in some of the mines of New Mexico, where my mother died. I have been there trying to gain some trace of him, but without success. Then I came on here, hoping to learn something of him through people who had known the Henlys. I thought it probable that he would come here, sometime, to see me, as he had previously been in the habit of do- ing, and, oe that I had disappeared, would leave his CORMEMDOOKS st 3