Geoffrey's Victory by Mrs Georgie Sheldon — page 289: what you’re looking at

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

~ a THE COLONEL’S STORY CONCLUDED. 285 —- “T knew well enough, but I would not appear to know. Twenty-four,’ she replied, and her face clouded as she said if. * “T could tell well enough what she was thinking of; in one year more she would be twenty-five, then Robert Dale could claim her fortune, and a life of poverty would lie before her. “Tnstantly the thought arose in my mind, ‘Why has my censin never married?’ I did not believe that she had remained single out of any regard for me, or from any desire to fulfill the con- ditions of our unele’s will; indeed, she bad expressed herself se indiguantly at the time of its reading, that I imagined she would always be adverse to any such union. Still, it seemed strange ‘that a young lady so attractive, and eligible in every way, should have remained single, when | did not doubt, indeed I knew, she might have chosen from among a half-dozen men whose for- tunes were even larger than her own. ‘Perhaps,’ I thonght, ‘she bas become bitter and antago- nistic—is bound to enjoy her money until the last moment, and then pass it over to me.’ I didnot want it—the thonght was very disagreeable to me. Perhaps she loved a poor man, and was intending to make the most of her time; perhaps, I reasoned, she has been saying her income all these vears, and will marry when her twenty-five years are past; maybe she is even waiting to tire me ont and get the whole for that purpose, But there appeared to be no one of whom she was fond. I noticed that she treated all gentlemen alike, even receiving my visits and attentions with no more pleasure than those of others. : ***Why not marry her if she will have yon?’ was the thought that shot throngh my mind, as I started out to get the roses I had promised her. ‘I will not give np my fortune to that miser without astruggle. I might ask her to be my wife, and then, if she refuses, I have fulfilled the conditions of my uncle's will.’ But, at first, a feeling of horror came over me, at the thought of giving to another the place which my Annie had filled, and I angrily repudiated it. Lavoided my cousin’s society fora time after that, almost hating myself for contemplating for a moment & marriage with her for mercenary reasons. But when she chided me gently for my neglect, seeming to feel actual pain on account of it, those questions returned to me with even greater force tlian before, and I resolved to try to learn her mind upon the snbject. “T knew that I should lead a wretched existence in.this great house, with» no woman to brighten it with her presence, and, perhaps, after a time, if she should consent, I might confess the great temptation and sorrow that had come to me, and perhaps she would pardon it, and be willing to receive my boy and give him a mother’s care. As soon as I reached this conclusion, I made no delay about putting my fate to the test. ‘We were one day talking about my estate here, and of some = GOMmiGcooo S (E(0)