Roanoke of Roanoke Hall: A Romance — page 170: what you’re looking at

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

164 Roanoke of Roanoke Hall. - ‘¢ Alas,” I groaned, “that I should be the one to shatter it! They are most assuredly wed, for I myself, unknown, thank God, to him, was present at the ceremony.” The system of persecution he had pursued was soon laid bare to me. He had com- menced, three years before, by convincing my uncle of the strength of his case, and had then demanded an enormous ransom, on the professed grounds that he did not wish for the estates, and would prefer to avoid the ex- penses of a lawsuit. “But the scoundrel did not dare to show his face in England at that time,” I cried. “To bring an action was consequently out of his power.” . “So I discovered when it was too late,” said my uncle, sadly. ‘‘ But that has availed me little. Having bled me again and again by unconscionable extortions for upwards of two years, he has in the end turned traitor to his solemn pledges, and laid a case in his wife’s name for the recovery of Roanoke Hall, producing among other evidence the very payments I have well-nigh ruined my- comichbooks.com