A Struggle for a Ring — page 303: what you’re looking at

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

A YOUNG LADY’S HINT. 299 intense love of him, it puzzled her—she could not under- ~ stand it. She had been so habituated to love, to offers of marriage, she could hardly understand one who refrained from both. She tried to find some valid reason, but she could not. It could not be difference of rank, there was so little. He would be a wealthy earl—it could not be a matter of fortune; and, if she was a judge of human nature, it could not be a matter of love, for most cer- tainly, if there was any truth in words or looks, he loved her. Of another thing beautiful Lady Ethel made no doubt—that was, he loved no other. She had watched him carefully, and the conclusion at which she had arrived was, that he cared for no other woman on earth except herself. | The next thing was to look round the world and try, if ~ possible, to find out what was the reason he said nothing to her—why he talked of every other subject on earth except love. ‘There must be an impediment; either in his early youth he had had some unfortunate love affair, or he had in some way engaged himself. Then, when the beau- tiful woman had come to this conclusion, she said to herself that she would wait—there was no difficulty in this world so great but that love and patience could over- come it. One lovely morning—the sun was warm and bright, and the air was heavy with the breath of a thousand flowers —the countess expressed a wish that some comfortable cushions and shawls should be placed for her under the ‘ereat cedar trees, and that her son and Lady Ethel should join here there; and Ailie, hearing the plan, felt sick at heart with a great fear. She could see how the countess _ was doing her best always to bring them together. Itmust not be. She looked up, with a quiet, anxious face. he GOMUIE 0) ©\@) CS (elo) ;