The String of Pearls; or, The Barber of Fleet Street — page 34: what you’re looking at

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

| I | | gate, and we have never met again.” | 96 THE STRING OF PEARLS. pee 2 iii ae i as a ne ea cme | oo $$ assailants A ARAL EATS «| cannofdare not doso, unless you tell me he lives, Tell me that Mark Incestrie lives, and then I shall be all patience: tell me that, and you shall not hear & murmur from me. Speak the word at once—-atonce! It is cruel, believe me, it is cruel to keep me in this suspense.” “ his is one of the saddest errands I ever came upon,” said the stranger, as he led Johannato a seat. “ Recollect, lady, what creatures of accident and chance 2 ‘we are—recollect how the slightest circumstances will affect us, in driving us to the confines of despair, aud remember by how frail a tenure the best of us hold existence.” | : “No moreno more!” shrieked Johanna, as she clasped her hands-~‘' 1 know all now, and am desolate.” She let her face drop upon her hands, and shook as with a convulsion of grief. « Mark, Mark!” she cried, “‘you have gone from me! I thought not this-—l thought not this. Oh, Heaven! why have I lived so long as to have the capacity to listen to such fearful tidings ? Lost--lost~eall lost! God of Heaven! what a _ wilderness the world is now to me | | “Let me pray you, lady, to subdue this passion of grief, and listen truly to what | ' Ishall unfoldto you. There is much to hear and much to speculate upon; andif, | '| from all that I have learnt, I cannot, dare not tel] you that Mark Ingestrie lives, I | likewise shrink from telling you he is no more.” 1?» “ Speak again=-~say those words again! There 1s a hope, then—-oh, there is a | hope!” ‘There is a hope; and better is it that your mind should receive the first shock | of the probability of the death of him whom you have so anxiously expected, and | then afterwards, from what I shall relate to you, gather hope that it may not be so, | than that from the first you should expect too much, and then have those expec- tations rudely destroyed.” “Tt is so—it is so; this is kind of you, and if I cannot thank you as I ought, you will know that it is because I am in a state of too great affliction so to do, and | a from want of wili; you will understand thate-I am sure you will understand | || that.” | “ Make no excuses to me. Believe me, I can fully appreciate all that you would | say, and all that you must feel. I ought to tell you who I am, that you may have © confidence in what I have to relate to you. My name is Jeffery, and I am acolonel | in the Indian army.” “Tam moch beholden to you, sir; but you bring with vou a passport to my confidence, in the name of Mark Ingestrie, which is at once sufficient. LI live again | in the hope that you have given me of his continued existence, and in that hope I | will maintain a cheerful resignation that shall enable me to bear up against all you — have to tell me, be it what it may, and with a feeling that through much suffering there may come joy at last. You shall find me very patient, ay, extremely patient ——so patient that you shall scarcely see the havoc that grief has already made | here.” She pressed her hands upon her breast as she spoke, and looked in his face with such an expression of tearful melancholy that it was quite heartrending to witness it; and he, although not used to the melting mood, was compelled to pause for a few moments ere he could proceed in the task he had set himself. | “Iwill be as brief,” he said, “as.possible, consistent with stating all that is | requisite for me to state, and I must commence by asking you if youareaware un-_ _ der what circumstances it was that Mark Ingestrie was abroad 2” “‘T am aware of so much, that a quarrel with his uncle, Mr. Grant, was the ereat, | cause, and that his main endeavour was to better his fortunes, so that we might be happy, and independent of those who looked mot with an eye of favour upon our | _ projected union.” “Yes, but, what I meant was, were you aware of the sort of adventure he _ embarked in to the Indian seas ?” “No, I know nothing further ; we met here on this spot, we parted at yonder Ponies aes gine i = : “ SEN Ril ES RS Rit ES Ee KO a adie ws pres seo ? ‘ oo Ves sd eT AE Ce ee es ee ee a eben ee 1 Re I — comicbooks.com ¥ a Q = - oe = sae eer icet ss SR EROS a a RE EN Ae eg ee nna manana eeaeneeee | Renate kernel canoer ILA LES ELE A RY ES SN AY AR = ee EB HO ae gree Site i a Oh a a pe er EAD INPRO NTT Hj q 7