His Other Wife: A Novel — page 57: what you’re looking at

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

MISSIONARY WORK, 49 moving with his wife to a distant State, leaving Mr. Reed to the care of his servants. He assigned to the Bethel church a good and sufficient reason for his change of resi- dence—his health was breaking in the chill climate of that latitude—he was going to one of the Texan towns on the Gulf coast. A few weeks after being settled with her hus- band in the new locality, Mrs. Croft received news of her adopted father’s death. _ Now she was utterly alone in the world, with only her husband’s love to rest her hungry heart upon. But this seemed entirely to satisfy her. She worshiped him with an abject and slavish devotion that was simply pitiful. His manner to her was considerate, kind; and occasionally affectionate ; her own absorbed passion gilded it and sup- plied all its deficiencies. To be allowed to love him was of itself unutterable bliss. the minister and his wife boarded In the city of with a widow. Very soon Mrs. Croft’s health became so delicate that she kept her bed most of the time. Mr. Croft consulted one or two physicians about her, but none seemed able to diagnose or treat her singular mal- ady, which was mental as well as physical. They said her brain seemed to be softening. Mr. Croft was untiring in his attentions. He daily re- ceived the prescriptions of the attending physician, and with his own hands prepared and administered the doses. Not only this, but he insisted on long professional discus- sions as to the nature and progress of her symptoms, and. Eomicbooks: (E(@) im