Should She Have Left Him? — page 54: what you’re looking at

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

48 SHOULD SHE HAVE LEFT HIM? Such was the dreadful truth—and none the less dreadful because she looked it in the face so bravely. Dorothy pulled his face to her gently, as she asked: “And your conclusion isr “There is but one conclusion,” he said hopelessly. ‘We must separate. You must gain ali there is to be gained, by instant separation.” “What thenr” “Our intercourse must end, so that the world shall have no opportunity to censure.” “Will that secure my happiness?” This time Trescotte did not reply so promptly. Happiness to either seemed so far away. “It is perhaps a step in that direction,” he replied. Dorothy averted her head, slightly bending it in thought, the while, however, she gently stroked his hand. Trescotte did not disturb her, but gave him- self up to the thought of how hard it was to leave her, and that nothing but an ardent desire for her well being could make him consent to a moment’s separation. Suddenly she lifted her head and shot a question at him that seemed almost an echo of his own thought: ‘“ Does your heart indicate this course?” “ My heart?” he exclaimed, deeply pained. ‘Oh, how can such a thought be suggested to your No, no; not my heart. It is the coldest judgment I can summon.” Her eyes lighted up with pleasure. ‘ And what would separation do for me?” Comicbooks.€©