Octavia's Pride; or, The Missing Witness — page 95: what you’re looking at

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

OCTAVIA’S PRIDE. 85; ‘<In the sentence of James Ferguson to five year’s impris- onment.” Every word fell clear and distinct. The witness stood a moment waiting for any cross-questioning, bowed, and stepped aside. Seattergood smiled grimly at the row of astonished, crest- fallen faces on the other side, and before they had recoy- ered from their confusion had called another witness, the keeper of a jail in Cornwall, who testified that James Fer- guson had served out his sentence under his care. Ferguson himself, after turning into as many colors as a chameleon, suddenly darted into the anteroom, and John Middleton followed, raging. Felix felt the salt taste of the blood oozing from the lip into which he had set his teeth savagely, His trump card worthless! The testimony that was to win the case, and give him Octavia Wainwright, set aside entirely. He could haye cursed himself for his stupidity. Why had he not taken pains to ascertain the antecedents of the man he had taken such pains to put into Mathew Merle’s place. He counted over what that man had already cost them, and here he was, incompetent to testify. No wonder Octavia Wainwright despised him. » He glanced over to her and saw the haughty face still se- date and calm, but there was exultant triumph in her eye. ‘<She planned it all. She has known it all the time,” thought he, and for all the fierceness of his rage could not but give his tribute of admiration. When the proceedings ended by the Middletons, after a hasty consultation, yielding the case for the present, with a threatening hint to bring overwhelming evidence to a second trial, Felix escorted Miss Wainwright to her carriage. An iron statue could scarcely have looked more stiff, and grim, and hard than Felix as he took the seat opposite, while she had never been more radiant and dazzling. comic 900 CS Go