A Struggle for a Ring — page 233: what you’re looking at

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

COMING HOME. 229 interest in his love-story ; they wondered much whether he would win in the end, or whether the lovely lady, who sent away all her other lovers, would send him also. There were several other visitors. Lady Manton, a pretty, wealthy widow, who was determined to make the most of a world she felt very happy in; Sir Joseph and Lady Legard; Miss Bell, a superb brunette, whose chief fault was that she thought the world ought to be content with the beauty of her face and not expect her to talk; then came Captain Moore, Lord Savage’s eldest son; a very well-selected party. Then for the first time Alice saw something of gay life. She saw balls, dinner-parties, archery /eés, picnics. She watched Lady Waldrove as she received her guests, won- dering, with a heavy heart, whether she would ever be fitted to take her place in this grand world—whether she should ever learn to move at her ease among the noble and high-born. She watched Lady Ethel with something like envy. She was to the manner born—in every way qualified to reign queen over these brilliant /e/es—to re- ceive the worshiping homage of a crowd came quite natural to her, it required no effort, and Alice longed to be more like her. She was quite unconscious of the charm of her own graceful, sweet manner—unconscious as she was of the beauty of her Greek, passionate, tender — face. As the days passed on she drooped more and more. She had come to Roseneath full of hope, believing that in time she should win so much love from her husband’s friends that they would most kindly welcome her afterward as his wife, believing that love would win love, that she could make herself so useful, so necessary to them, that they would never be able to do without her again. It was * ecomicbooks (E(0)