In Sight of St. Paul's — page 208: what you’re looking at

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

THE PANTHER’S BIRTHDAY. 203 Become that man’s wife? Never! And yet if Tom’s life depended upon it, what could she do? Better far an existence of misery for herself than that the man she loved, the only man she had ever loved, should be made to suffer unjustly. After a while the sound of merriment from below came to her ears. Raising her head, she listened eagerly, but nothing save the confused murmur of voices and laughter reached her. What was this place into which she had been lured ? After what seemed to her hours of misery the key turned in the lock, and the door was opened. Upon the threshold was a woman, clad in a man’s livery, who bade her come below. Aileen instinctively refused. The servant disappeared. A few minutes after a crowd of women, superbly dressed, invaded her prison. ‘CYou must come with us,’’ cried one. ‘Ves, we will take no denial,’’ shrieked another. Aileen, dazed and unhappy, shrank away, but in- stantly she was surrounded, No force was used, nor did they essay to drag her, but, in spite of herself, she felt herself borne by mere force of numbers from the room and down the stairs. Laughing heartily, the women carried her along into a glare of light. Eomicbooks (E(0)