His Grace — page 62: what you’re looking at

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

56 HIS GRACE. CHAPTER V. THE SOLUTION OF A DIFFICULTY. IT was very good and thoughtful of Hurstbourne to have the night mail stopped for me; but in reality the | station-master’s complaisance did not save me much time ; for [had to go upto London, and, when there, I was compelled to wait several hours before the early morning train left for Essex. The delay, however, was of small consequence, and indeed that was what I kept on saying to myself while I paced wearily up and down the platform at Liverpool Street. I had read between the lines of my sister’s telegram, I had guessed that her wish had been to spare me an unne- cessary shock, and when, between nine and ten o’clock in the morning, I reached my destination at last and saw that all the blinds of our poor little cottage were drawn down, there was no need for the sobbing inco- herence of the housemaid to convince me that all was over. Nora, who evidently had not taken her clothes off all night, came downstairs presently to tell me all about it, in a quiet, miserable voice. There was not much to tell—She had been out rather late on the previous afternoon, and, on her return, had found our mother sitting, as usual, in her arm-chair and apparently asleep. GComicboo m