A Struggle for a Ring — page 270: what you’re looking at

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

266 “MY LOVE JS MY TORTURE.” You could never so far deceive yourself! My mother has but one idol—Mammon!_ You could never have been so blind, Ailie.” | - There was a look of quiet despair in her face as she an- swered : 1h ‘‘T did believe it, Vivian; now I see how wrong I was. Now I understand the class of people to which Lady Wal- drove belongs; then I did not, I swear to you I did not! I thought that if she found me amiable and lovable she would care for me; I thought that in time I could make myself quite indispensable to her, and that then she would not be angry when you said, ‘This is my wife.’” ‘‘It is of no use blaming you now,” he said, ‘‘ the deed is done; but if you had chosen the direct way to ruin me and yourself, you could not have chosen a more efficacious one. Did you never think how utterly impossible it would be fur me to introduce my mother’s companion as my wife? You, by your own act and deed, have placed an almost impassable barrier between us. What induced you, Ailie, to think of such a thing ?” ‘“The hope of making your friends like me,” she re- plied. | He laughed bitterly—the sound of his laughter seemed to drive her to frenzy. ‘*Do not laugh at me,” she said, with dignity; ‘‘ my sorrow is so great, it should make me sacred in your eyes.” ‘‘T am laughing at your ideas, not at you,” he replied ; ‘the utter absurdity, the intolerable folly of coming here. You force harder words from me than I had ever thought of speaking to any woman, but it was such unheard of folly, such madness! You knew the peculiar circumstances of our Quixotic marriage—what had my friends to do with you, or you to do with them? You have done wrong, a comicbooks com