I Forbid the Banns! — page 20: what you’re looking at

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

Io “TJ FORBID THE BANNS!”" “In the phenomenon of falling in love a woman repre- sents the precipice.”’ ‘“T understand now ; I knew it wasin the air. But sup- pose there is no falling, Mr. Southcote ?”’ “Then there is no love—according to my theory.” ‘Of course—according to your theory.”’ “Ves, I am no believer in crawling into love, Miss Travers. One crawls into friendship—one occasionally drifts into matrimony, but in love one falls.” ‘How nice it must be to be a connoisseur in such matters, such as you are, Mr. Southcote—to be able to define at a moment’s notice under what letter of the alphabet certain incidents in life must be indexed.”’ Cyril did not like the way Miss Travers made this remark. It suggested a sneer at his wisdom. ‘‘It may, perhaps, be more interesting for you to learn that the same view of these matters is not taken by Mr. Charlton,” he said in a low tone, after glancing around him, as if to satisfy himself that no one but Miss Travers could hear his words. ‘“‘ More interesting to me?” said the girl in a voice that suggested surprise as well as inquiry. ‘ Why should it be of any interest to me to learn what Mr. Charlton’s views on this or any other subject are ?”’ “ I cannot tell why it should be so,” replied Cyril, with a very good imitation of a Frenchman’s shrug. ‘ But I can assure you that Charlton’s profession of faith embraces the crawling process. His idea is that gradually and insensi- bly—he did not say senselessly—a lad and a lass become subject to the influence of that phenomenon which goes by the name of love. Now sixteen days must elapse before we reach England.” “You speak more incomprehensibly than ever, Mr. -Southcote,” said Miss Travers, ‘It is impossible for any ordinary intellect to grasp your meaning—assuming that CONNIELOOOKS (2)