A Final Triumph; or, A Lady Bachelor — page 145: what you’re looking at

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

RIFTINGS. | 143 SP over his handsome face during the narration, and im conclusion, I said: ‘* Now it is in order for you to explain to me.”’ He did not hesitate or attempt to temporize, but in a straightforward way, said: ‘* T have been the victim of startling coincidences. You know why my mother kept from me the knowledge of my father. 1 did not even suspect it until after her death; then by accident 1 learned my father’s name. I naturally feared there was a scandal connected with my father’s his- tory. I had dwelt for a long time on the subject, but did not dare make inquiries. ‘Then I met Hloise Studevant. 1 felt it my duty to learn the truth. I knew I did not bear my father’s name. I employed a detective and sent him South. One evening—the night of the ball—l was sitting on the piazza of the hotel. Eloise was in the midst of a group of girls. ‘They were talking in a ram- bling sort of way, and a remark was made which caused Eloise to declare her high appreciation of lineage. I heard her say how she would feel should she marry a man and afterward find that he had deceived her; and here I had wooed her under a false name, in one sense. And now comes the coincidence. Within half an hour I received my mail; in it wasa letter from the detective. He had learned the history of George Everest, the man who was hanged in Texas; and at once I saw that my mother had met with the actual experience that Eloise had indicated. I could see why she had made me bear her family name; why she had concealed from me all knowledge of my father, and in the narrative you have told me appears the GEomichbooks (Eo)