His Other Wife: A Novel — page 254: what you’re looking at

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

246 AN UNFUST STEWARD. ‘‘ Madam, you forget that I repeatedly admonished you of your extravagance in my letters.” ‘Yes; but not once did you curtail my receipts of money.” ‘‘On the contrary, madam, as was my duty and pleasure, I frequently responded to your demands by straining my own credit. In the very last instance, the remittance you received was from my private purse.” ‘“Why, in Heaven's name, did you not speak plainly, and say that I was being ruined?’ ‘‘My dear Mrs. Morgan, it seemed to me that, in dealing with a lady of culture and intellect, I said enough, and more than enough; and when I found there was no retrenchment of your expenses, I naturally concluded that you had in reserve resources of which I was ignorant, and of which I had no right to inquire.” ‘‘Oh, sir, I cannot help but feel that you have done me and my child a very cruel injustice by this incompre- hensible delicacy.” There was. a bitter intonation on the last word that sounded very like sarcasm from the refined lips of the frail invalid. ‘“‘If so, I have erred through consideration for your feelings, and respect for my dead friend’s memory.” ‘Would it not have been kinder to that friend had you used less agreeable measures to protect his widow and orphan against the poverty that seems now our portion ?” Comicbooks: (Co)