Octavia's Pride; or, The Missing Witness — page 36: what you’re looking at

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

26 | OCTAVIA’S PRIDE a died, giving back’the property to its rightful claimant, or — his heirs, if such could be found. But Arthur’s death was proved beyond any questioning. ‘There is quite a pile of India letters giving an account of it, and an interesting glimpse of his life, after the rupture between him and his father. He seems to have broken down in spirits and char- acter, but to have retained that womanly tenderness of heart which struck me so forcibly in: his college letters to his father. . I have tried to imagine the poor fellow’s life. Did you notice his comrade’s description of the boy who followed him everywhere he went, and of whom he was so loving and tender? ‘The fate of this lad seems to have weighed heayily on Arthur’s mind at his death-bed; for, do you remember, his friends say he made him promise to come and hear a little story about him, and begged that he would carry a letter commending the lad to his father’s care when he (Arthur) should be gone. But he died suddenly, rupturing a blood-vessel, and the letter was never written, and when Arthur was dead the lad fled away and disappeared. Did you give much thought to this, papa?” ‘“No, Octavia, I scarcely remember the circumstance at all.” | ‘Neither did Screw & Scattergood, but it stays with me very forcibly. Well, to come back to our case. After your father is dead, and you have been all this time in undis- turbed possession, these Middletons rise up and claim to be legal children of Gustavus Wainwright, who, as they aver, changed his name to Middleton on marrying the heiress of one Captain Robert Middleton, a wealthy land-owner in Australia, and they claim to be the rightful owners of this property. Dear papa, it was very foolish in you to try to hide this from me, because I must have found it out some- time.” : She smiled upon him tranquilly, but her eyes glittered a little feverishly. | mn comicbooks rela) - / : Fie = ~2 ye 5