Richard Forrest, Bachelor — page 36: what you’re looking at

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

“ARTHUR AND [ HAVE PARTED !” 27 her grief giving place to anger. ‘‘He is a fool, and I hate him !”’ | ‘‘But there must have been something,’’ said Rose again. ‘‘T tell you there wasn’t,’’ persisted Florence, doggedly. ‘No quarrel, no jealousy?’’ asked Rose. ‘*Think!”’ Florence shook her head. ‘Was there no one else?”’ ‘‘Not a single soul. I don’t know any more about what got into him than that dog does.” ‘““You must see him again, then, dear,’’ said Rose, after +9 a pause. ‘‘We must try to arrange—— ‘‘Never! so long as I live,’’ cried Florence, with spirit. ‘‘He’d think I was pining to make up, which I’m not.” ‘““That’s right,’’ said Rose, approvingly. ‘‘He’s not worth a thought, still——’’ She might have added, ‘‘I told you so,’”’ but Rose was not of that sort. ‘‘But all the same I’m wretched,’’ uttered Florence, sob- bing afresh. Rose hesitated, before she spoke again, for a struggle was going on within her breast. What should she do? Should she encourage Flcrence to think as well as possible of her lover and try to patch up the difference (which she could not believe very serious, as yet) between them? Or should she nurse her present harsh feelings toward him, until they had drifted irreparably apart? If she chose the first course, she was almost certain to lose Florence to him sooner or later, and in the second, she ‘might be able to keep her sister with her always. Her heart beat quickly as she thought of this. It meant so much to her! Florence’s sweet companionship in future, Gomichbooks,co im