The String of Pearls; or, The Barber of Fleet Street — page 38: what you’re looking at

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

are ee ee TE eT eee Or Te . nS I RTE et SE SCENT EPO Ca tf the nt pe ee tninticsntnhenh. A bees? enn tt, crak atti ad lanateanclaseh asin iniinownommecalte natant, itl te A ng cence tena EY Oey ate thn NY Sm pr — 30 THE STRING OF PEARLS. hat you live when all clse have name 3 : ws iisesiaiiinaicaaian tp ee tt ~~ —-—_ Ingestrie, Mark Ingestrie, dare I hope t perished ?” “T have told you all that I can tell you, and, accordivg as your own judg- | ment may dictate to you, you can encourage hope, or extinguish it for ever, T have kept back nothing from you which can make the alla worse or better —I have added nothing; but youhave it simply as it was told to me. “ He is lost—he is lost.” : é “T am one, lady, who always thinks certainty of any sort preferable to_ suspense ; an@alihough, while there 1s no positive news of death, the continuance | of life ought fairly to be assumed, yet you must perceive, from & review ol all the circumstances, upon how very slender a foundation all our hope must rest,” ' €T have no hope—I have no hope—he is lost to me for ever! It were madness to? think helived. Oh, Mark, Mark ! and is this the end of all our fond affection ? did I indeed look my last upon that face, when on this spot we | parted ?” , ; “The uncertainty,” said Colonel Jeffery, wishing to withdraw as much as possible from a consideration of her own sorrows, “‘the uncertainty, too, that | prevails with regard to the fate of poor Mr. Thornhill, is a sad thing. I much — fear that those precious pearls he had, have been seen by some one who has not | scrupled to obtain possession of them by iis death,” “Yes, it would seem so indeed ; but what are pearls tome? Oh! would that | they had sunk to the bottom of that Indian sea, from whence they had been plucked. Alas, alas ! it has been their thirst for gain that has produced all these cvils. We might have been poor here, but we should have been happy. ich we ought to have been, in contentment; but now all is lost, and the world to me can present nothing that is to be desired, but one small spot large enough to be | my grave.” She leant upon the arm of the garden-seat, and gave herself up to sucha passion of tears that Colonel Jeffery ifelt he dared not interrupt her. ‘There is_ something exceeding sacred about real grief which awes the beholder, and it | was with an involuntary feeling of respect that Colonel Jeffery stepped a few paces olf, and waited until that burst of agony had passed away. It was | during those bricf moments that he overheard some words uttered by one | who seemed likewise to be suffering from that prolific source of all affliction, | disappointed affection. Seated af some short distance was a maiden, and one not | voung enough to be called a youth, but still not far enough advanced in existence | to have had all his better feeliags crushed by an admixture with the eold world, | and he was listening while the maiden spoke. “ Itis the neglect,” she said, “ which touched me to the heart. But one word spoken or written, one message of affection, to tell me that the memory of | a love I thought would be eternal, still lingered in your heart, would have been a_ world of consolation ; but it came not, and all was despair.” | * Listen to me,” said her companion, “ and if ever in this world you can believe | that one who truly loves can be cruel to be kind, believe that I am that one. I | yielded for atime to the fascination of a passion which should never have found a home within my heart ; but yet it was far more of asentiment than a passion, inasmuch as never for one moment did an evil thought mingle with its pure aspirations. “ 1b was a dream of joy, which for a time obliterated a rememberance that ought | never to have been forgotten ; but when I was rudely awakened to the fact that | those whose opinions were of importanee to your welfare and your happiness knew nothing of love, butin its grossest aspect, it became necessary at once to crush a feeling, which, in its continuance, could shadow forth nothing but evil.”? “You may not imagine, and you may never know—for I cannot tell the heart- | pangs that it has cost me to presevere in a line of conduct which I felt was due to you—whatever heart-pangs it might cost me. I have been content to imagine that your affection would turn to indifference, perchance to hatred ; that a consciousness a 4 ee mate i ASE rv btthenbiechlihakdnens Se, SUES USC eee te cee ee ae ete ~~~ ~ a i a a ee re comicbooks.com AR Ct eS Se rt gece eve = ( Re ene