Geoffrey's Victory by Mrs Georgie Sheldon — page 295: what you’re looking at

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

rey wy MRS. MAPLESON’S CONFESSION. ——29 ‘Estelle, drink this,” he said, kindly, as be put it to her lips, though his band shook so that he could not hold the glass steadily. ) She hastily swallowed it, and then pushed him from her; it seemed as if she could not bear him near her while her sin was unconfessed—unutil he should hear and judge her, and she couid know what her doom was to be. 3 For more than twenty years he had been her husband. He had always been kind and chivalrous in his treatment of. ber. At first she had been proud of him for his honor and manliness, then her pride had gradually developed into a strong, deep efiection, which, however, she had never allowed herself to pene before him, because of his unvarying reticence toward er. She had tried to be a good wife to him, to win his respect py her faithfulness to duty, her devotion as a mother, and his admiration by preserving her beauty and shining a star in the society they frequented; and now, after succeeding for so long a time, it drove her nearly crazy to think that perhaps the con- fession of her early folly would undo all this and breed con- tempt for her, or worse—his pity. His own deception seemed very trivial compared with hers, for a cruel fate alone bad prevented him from acknowledging his wife and child whom he had fondly loved and would have cherished as long as they had been spared to him, while she had deliberately planned to abandon her delicate babe and cast it unloved upon the care of strangers. The wine which she had drank, however, served to steady her nerves, and to give her strength for the trial before her, and after a few miuutes she raised her white, drawn face, saying: “Sit down, all of you, for my story is not a short one, though for all our sakes I will make it as brief as pessible. ‘*You will remember, William, that after I came into possession of my half of Uncle Jabez’s fortune, I went abroad. I had al- ways had an intense longing to see Europe, and when the meang to do so were at my disposal, I resolved to gratify that desire. You know, too, that as a family we had always been poor. It hed been a continual struggle with us to secure even the neces-— saries of life, and the battle with poverty had been a most bitter one tome. Now, I was bound to get the most I could ont of life, to make up-for the deprivations of my youth. I indignantly refused to marry as my uncle desired, for I, as well as you, con- sidered that he had no right to make any such stipulations in disposing of his money; but I was young, I had seven vears before me in which to enjoy my wealth, and I said I would spend every - dollar of my income in being happy and making up to my family for the hardships of previous years. So I settled a comfortable income on my father and mother, and then, taking my sister Nellie for a companion, I sailed for Europe to gratify my taste for travel and sight-seeing. We both spoke French and Ger- O Gom Ehoo S (C(O) =}