A Struggle for a Ring — page 328: what you’re looking at

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

324 A WIFE'S HOPE. the ice-cream seemed to her far too precious even to be eaten, while Lady Ethel walked away, saying to Lord Carsdale, with a gentle laugh: ‘‘T can never quite understand whether you like Miss Derwent or not, you speak to her in sucha tone of sup- pressed irritation always. ” “4 ‘‘Do I? I do not intend it,” he replied, carelessly ; but Lady Ethel’s answer was : ‘‘VYes; your manner is not the same with her as with other people,” which was not quite a pleasant speech for him to hear. CHAPTER XLVIII. A WIFE'S HOPE. If a beautiful woman sets to work to win a man’s heart it is not often that she fails. Lady Ethel had made several mistakes that evening ; for one thing, she had mistaken his impatience at seeing Ailie watching for her for a desire on his part to be with her. She said to herself that he must love her, that it was useless to imagine anything else; he must love her, and perhaps with some little encourage- ment,-some few kind words from her, he would tell her so. If he had not liked her he would have married before this, she thought. His mother wanted him to marry; the earl openly declared that the one gréat wish o1 nis 11fe was to see his son married; so tnat there was no reason, no ob- stacle, nothing to prevent it. Lady Ethel made herself very charming to him, and she was always irresistible; the (E(O) m micbooks (E(0)