Her Faithful Knight — page 139: what you’re looking at

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

Darcy’s Sympathy. 135 pale, pink skin as he greeted her. Darcy was of an im- patient nature, and felt that some decisive action was needed. “It is on my mother’s behalf that I have called this morning,” he said. “Of course, I have talked to her about you, and she is very anxious to know you.” “Really?” put in Dorothy as he paused, in quite unaf- fected surprise. He looked at her and decided that she must be acting. She must know, as everybody did, that he was Lord Der- rick’s second son, and that his elder brother, the present wearer of the title, was an invalid and a bachelor. She must also have learned, from Mrs. Stourton-Chepe or from other members of the company, that he had come into a good deal of money at his father’s death. Person- ally, too, she must realize that he was not quite a Caliban, and, taking all these things together, her attitude of calmly ignoring his evident admiration must assuredly be as- sumed. So he reasoned, as even a less vain man might have done under the circumstances, without taking count of the fact that Dorothy was wrapped up in her sister, for whose cruel fate she was inclined to abjure the entire male sex, and that she was furthermore honestly absorbed in the uncongenial task of trying to be worth ten pounds a week as an actress. Moreover, the Hon. Darcy Der- rick’s personality in no way appealed to her particular taste. She had but recently known a man who resembled her ideal far more closely‘than the Hon. Darcy could ever do, and whether the latter admired her or not was a sub- ject to which she had given very little attention. She listened, therefore, in surprise while her manager proceeded to beg her to come and lunch that afternoon with his mother and himself at the hotel where Lady Der- rick was staying until the production of the play. ONNICLOOO <S (@)