His Grace — page 135: what you’re looking at

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

HIS GRACE. ‘129 She neither resented nor even noticed my snappish- ness. I was not a sufficiently important person to be worth snubbing ; nor, I frankly confess, did I ever suc- ceed in provoking Miss St. George: although, during my subsequent intercourse with her, I did more than once try my hand at that foolish and hopeless game. She remained silent for a few minutes, after which she resumed : ‘As you know him so well, and as, according to Mr. Gascoigne, you are employed in managing his affairs, you probably know whether it is true or not that he’s over head and ears in debt.” “What is not only probable but certain,” I observed in reply, ‘‘ is, that if I were in possession of that knowl- edge, I should not impart it to a total stranger. But I don’t in the least mind telling you that I know very little more about the matter than you do. The Duke of Hurstbourne might be in debt without my being aware of it; he might also have been singularly lucky in his racing pear without having rendered any account of them to me.’ “ Has he been lucky?” she inquired, with a touch of eagerness. “T have said already that I don’t know. Perhaps he has, and perhaps he hasn’t.” “Well,” she remarked in musing accents, after we had ridden on for a short distance, “ most likely he hasn’t. Still, there’s no knowing: it is just possible that he may have a head on his shoulders, though one would hardly suppose so from his style of riding.” “You mean,’ I suggested, “that his head won’t remain on his shoulders much longer if he continues to rush at his fences in that mad way.” 9 cS (E(@) mM Gomichboo