The Illegal Marriage — page 91: what you’re looking at

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

THE ILLEGAL MARRIAGE. 83 CHAPTER VII. ALFRED GUERRY’S PLOT— THE MEETING IN THE WOODS. It was with a heavy heart, and a cheek burning with shame, that Alfred Guerry sat down to make an application to Colonel Stannard for pecuniary aid; but there seemed to be no way of escape for him, and he was obliged to perform the disagree- able task. Morally, Guerry was a weak man. Dreading the exposure of an old crime, and thinking that old Hawks had it in his power to ruin him, the young man could not find courage to resist the first op- pressions that were put upon him, by the hard- ened reprobate. He became a slave, and was even now following his taskmaster into other crimes. For a certain sum, Hawks had agreed to go to California; and in order to raise this money Guerry had to win Miss Morgan’s hand. Thus far his plans had worked well, but trouble was coming, and he felt that he must stop at nothing now which could aid him in accomplishing this end, and in securing to himself a future of peace and respectability. More than once he had nearly made up his mind to tell Colonel Stannard his story, and to ask his aid; but at the last moment his courage failed, and he had come, finally, to think that it would be better for him to carry the thing through bravely, and enjoy the reward. It was his vanity that drove away the better feeling. Had his better instincts prevailed—had he gone ay a ww ~~ . wet GEomicbooks (ele)