A Final Triumph; or, A Lady Bachelor — page 43: what you’re looking at

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

7 AWA} he ee a AHA VATS Pir tad 6 Be "ane A SECRET. | 41 was no mistake in the meaning of the smile inspired by her sense of pride; it was merely the veiling smile that masked the anguish of a breaking heart. He also read the false interpretation that his friend had put upon the superficial evidences, and the problem was at once pre- | sented which he afterward studied and mastered. He based his calculations upon the following propositions: George was an honest and sincere man; there was some weird but inexorable reason why he could not claim the love he had inspired; being honest, one could but accept. the inexorableness of the secret which made a more hon- orable course impossible, and, under all the circumstances, he deemed it best to let the real self-deception, for the time being, rule. Thus he did not attempt to undeceive his friend, did not tell him that he had been deceived by the only weapon left for defense to a sensitive and injured woman, and he did so with the hope that later develop- ments might bring about the awakening under circum- siances more promising. 'ecomicbooks