A Final Triumph; or, A Lady Bachelor — page 146: what you’re looking at

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

144 A LADY BACHELOR. second marvelous coincidence it has been my fate to en- counter. Now you know why I never made an explanation to Eloise. Had my father’s past been less terrible, as presented to me, J would have explained; but could 1 tell her she had loved the son of a man who had been hanged? Could I tell her I was the lineal descendant of a slave? No, no; 1 still justify my silence, and if Eloise can not excuse it, she lacks that nobleness of character for which I gave her credit. I would, under similar circumstances, act as I have done, and I would do it for her sake as well as my own. The mortification my conduct entailed was less than would be the humiliation that would have fole lowed a revelation.’’ /rEomicbooks (E@)