Ruby's Reward — page 277: what you’re looking at

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

Nearer and nearer they came, and, to her dismay, finally mig we directly under the shadow of the very tree where she was sitting, and not six feet from her, To increase her fear, Edmund Carpenter threw him- self upon the seat, and now only the trunk of the oak was between ther, “That old fool thought I was going to expose my hand, I suppose,” he sneered; ‘but he'll find that it will take more money than he haa, or than he will ever hope to have, to get that young beggar out of the clutches of the law, He will go to State prison in spite of fate, for—the dicmonds will be Found mpon sinc i and that will be proof positive of his gt z z;,"" = “That will ruin him, of course,” said Mrs. Gordon, although she uttered a sigh as she spoke; ‘but, may- be, they will discover them before the trial,”’ “IT do not believe that. Ot course, suspecting as they do that it is a plot, they must have searched everything long before this, and if they found any- thing, we should doubtless have heard from them 3 they would wish to temporize, and have the suit withdrawn. I made thorough work of my business, Ican agsure you, only Conant was too quick for us in one thing, He secured the suit Walter wore that night, and it is going to be rather ticklish business getting hold of it again without exciting their sus- picions. “It will break Ruby's heart if they prove him guilty,” said Mrs. Gordon, in a low tone that had something of fear and regret in it. compicboolcrsan