His Grace — page 81: what you’re looking at

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

HIS GRACE. 75 tends that Somers, who has owned to holding rather Radical views upon certain questions, can’t be trusted; and the worst of it is that he has immense local in- fluence. We shall have a hard fight for it, as far as I can make out; but I believe we shall win.” He evidently enjoyed the prospect of a fight with his cousin, whatever might be the result of it, and I am afraid my sage advice that he should temper zeal with discretion was altogether thrown away upon him. ‘Don’t be alarmed, old man,” said he, laughing; “ I won’t bring myself within reach of the arm of the law. But I’m not going to conceal my opinions, and I be- lieve I’m entitled to let Somers have the use of my carriages on the polling-day. Meanwhile, if only this beastly frost will give, you and I will have a day or two with these hounds, and we’ll take Miss Nora out with us. I’m awfully glad she rides: I like a girl who can ride, don’t you?” The fates ordained that Nora should be denied any opportunity of showing how deserving she was of Hurst- bourne’s regard in that respect; for the frost, far from giving, increased in intensity; so that on the following day it became plain that there was nothing to be done but to send post-haste to the neighboring town for a supply of skates. The park at patonche Castle boasts of a large sheet of ornamental water, which in hard weather has always been thrown open to the skating public ; so that when we betook ourselves thither, we found quite a numerous concourse of people disporting themselves upon the ice, and received a warm greeting from many of them. The young Duke, I soon saw, was going to be popular—it is not very difficult to be popular when Gomichbooks (E(0)