Her Faithful Knight — page 46: what you’re looking at

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

42 A Story of London. sister more dearly than any living thing. Phyllis had the weaker, gentler nature of the two; sisterly love, ambi- tion and art had never proved enough for her ; vain, trust- ful, emotional and innocent, it would seem that nature had marked her out as the victim of a man’s treachery and her own folly. “Oh, it is so good to be with you again,’ she mur- mured. “If I could only die now, this moment, as I soon shall do! Dolly, if it was wrong of me to deceive you, you can’t think how I have been punished. To- night, do you know, I have walked all the way from Richmond here. I have worn out my boots, and my feet are so sore. I shall limp for days. I had to come at night lest people should laugh at me; I looked so silly in these clothes. They are my landlady’s. She let me have them because I gave her all my own pretty things for rent. And, after all, it doesn’t matter how I look now, Dolly. For I am deserted and cast-off, and dying, dear, dying. Thank goodness for that!” Tears rolled down from Dorothy’s eyes over her sis- ter’s thin face. Phyllis stretched up her hand and stroked the other’s cheek. “IT knew you would be sorry,” she murmured; “and when I felt as I crawled along, all through Kew, Chis- wick and Hammersmith to-night, that my feet could not carry me farther, I told myself, “Dolly will be sorry.’ N6 one has been sorry for me yet. They seem to think it was all my own fault. But you will listen to me and you will understand.” “T will try, dear. But you are not strong enough to talk. Come to bed now and tell me all in the morning.” “No, no! You must hear everything,” Phyllis ex- claimed excitedly. “I couldn’t sleep without telling you. I have deceived you all the time. You know I pretended that I should be playing at Christmas time 2. That, was b