A Final Triumph; or, A Lady Bachelor — page 154: what you’re looking at

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

153 A LADY BACHELOR. ** Why should I, Mrs. Eagle?’’ ** Poor, dear girl! she is so delicate and fragile! Really, she is too ambitious for her strength. ’’ ** Well, yes, she is not strong; but, you know, Mr. Edi- cott isso fond of tennis, and he loves so to play with Helen. ’? ** Then he is an old friend of your daughter?’’ Aha! it was a well-put query, followed as it was by the statement: ** Mr. Edicott has been in France for over eight years, and this is his first visit home during all that time.” Mrs. Slender had been driven into a corner. If she fibbed, she would confess to an age for her.daughter that would have made her a young lady years ago. She would not be caught, and coolly said: ‘* Oh, she was but a little child in short dresses, you know. ”’ . She made no direct statement, but projected a decided inference. The Eagle cat had been foiled by the Slender cat, for that thrust; but the Eagle was equal to her spiteful intent» and she said, in an indifferent tone: **T understand Mr. Edicott has returned to America to marry a young lady to whom he has long been engaged. ’’ I saw Eagle’s eyes as she slyly looked up to watch the effect of this last stroke, and she had run the point of her venomous sword in a tender region. Mrs. Slender turned pale as she answered: ** Oh, I know there are ridiculous rumors always floating around concerning young ladies and gentlemen in society.’” Gomichbooks com