Octavia's Pride; or, The Missing Witness — page 254: what you’re looking at

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

' » q - Wee sth haa ie te te rr ud BY "> Ye Re » : - . £4 nie: ¥ : : : 7 Ls ty t a 7 ; ; ; , : { pe 5 3 Mi I $ & n . 7 . ys : , 7 . ‘ f . 1 . J é VW : ’ 44 =—=—« OOTAVIA’S PRIDE, ** Well, give me the benefit of the doubt.” ‘Unless weshould chance to meet Mathew Merle. I am not afraid now. But I should be sorry to spoil this journey by any angry ‘strife.” “Tt is hardly likely we shall see any one we know,” re- so Maurice, ‘though I mean to take Felix on the way.” And the next. day, followed by Mrs. Damer’s blessing, and an old slipper flung after them for luck,'as she explained to her son, the youthful couple set out for London. Half an hour after they had gone, two of Mathew Merle’s agents came to Mrs. Damer’s door in hot haste, with the legal au- thority for taking one Mina Merle in charge, and taking her to London to her uncle. Mrs. Damer quietly informed them that the young lady had already gone. Their close inquiries elicited a descrip- tion of the carriage, and the young woman’s companion, but no hint of the recent marriage. And then the pair posted off in hot pursuit. | | one igi : On that same morning there had: been a bustle of excite- ment in the court-yard of the great mansion at Chichester Rookery, as the gay party set out to ride some dozen miles to the landing-place, where the famous yacht, which , the earl’s friend, Lord Dexter, an ardent and accomplished boatman, had loaned for their accommodation, lay moored. — They had made preparations for several days’ absence, and went off in the highest spirits. Even Octavia had bright- ened into something like genuine enjoyment; and as the el- derly people, who were to be left behind, stood on a balcony watching them off, Octavia took off her cashmere scarf and waved it gayly in answer to the fluttering lace hand- kerchief of Lady Mary, and the repeated hand adieus of her father. ; © d \