A Social Meteor — page 232: what you’re looking at

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

222 A SOCIAL METEOR. “What can I do?’ she repeated, despairingly, ‘you know she is my mother and will take care of me so long as I stay with her, but if I leave her I shall be left to starve, for I can get no engagement to sing at this time of the year.’ ~“‘VYou won’t need any,’ I rejoined, gallantly. ‘I love you, and you’ve said you love me. Come with me now, and we’ll get married.’ “She looked frightened, and blushed as she said, timidly: ‘Do you mean it, Peter?’ ‘I never was more serious in my life,’ I replied. “Then, after a little more blushing and hesi- tating on her part, she put her hand on my arm, and we walked away together as unconcernedly as 1f we were not responsible for one person’s going through all the horrors of mal-de-mer on the ‘briny deep’ to no purpose. “Where is your mother ?’ I asked,as we made our way out of the crowd. “ “Down stairs, attending to her trunk,’ she an- swered ; ‘she won’t miss me until after the steamer starts.’ “I was thankful for that, as I was not over- anxious to have her shouting at me for trying to kidnap her daughter, and perhaps make me the center of interest on the dock, for even a few Eomicbooks (E{e)