The Opposite House: A Novel — page 21: what you’re looking at

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

16 The Opposite House. With a passionate gesture, the young man flung down the book, and tearing out the leaves, burned them on the hearth. Then he placed the white flower in a gold box and hid it in his breast. * % * * =5 * The unexpected had really, actually happened. He, the young, pleasure-loving dandy, the reckless worldling, the man without faith or stability—Trau- gott Gerrald—had repented, and was living quietly and respectably, industriously doing his duty. “He is working like a hon!” exclaimed Baron Linden to his friends; and Lieutenant Horster said, regretfully : “It’s a pity ; he was really a capital fellow. Well, we ’ll see how long his zeal will last.” The young ladies whispered secretly about the interesting Gerrald, who had actually been seen standing below at the door of the mill counting the sacks. ‘How strange!” they giggled, and added a pity- ing: ‘Poor fellow! When one considers that he was called from the gaming-table to a death-bed, it was a hard lesson !” Gerrald had no idea of the comments his worthy fellow-citizens were making upon him. Occupation was his sole thought. Henowremembered that he owned large mills in the suburbs. He had seen them once as he rode by, very hastily, itis true, for Comiclbooks.conn