A Struggle for a Ring — page 38: what you’re looking at

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

34 DECIDING HER FATE. young heart aching at the sight of her tears; ‘‘do not cry, Alice, but listen to me; it is the only way out of the difficulty. Of course,” he continued, in a more dignified tone, ‘‘if you do not like me, or have any objection of that kind, I must do whatever I can for you.” ‘Oh, no,” cried Alice, naively ; ‘‘I can have no objec- tion—it would be very nice; the only thing is, how can it be?” | ‘«Leave that to me; the Carsdales ride over difficulties— they do not lie down before them. Indeed, I think a difh- culty enhances the value of what one wishes to obtain. I heard my father say once, Alice—and it was the proudest boast he ever made—that no Carsdale had ever betrayed a woman. I will not be the first, dear, to brand myself with the name of traitor.” ‘‘You are not a traitor,” she replied, thinking to herself that in his heroism he looked like a young god, such as the Greeks worshiped. ‘‘T should be a traitor and coward both if I left you in this dilemma, Alice. I cannot and will not; but, my dear, I must not spend my time in making fine speeches to you about my loveand my honor. By my own thought- less act I have placed you ina false position, Alice. Let me make the only atonement possible—let me make you my wife?” Her heart thrilled with the words; a sudden sense of _ keen, passionate delight scized her. His wife! Why she ~ would most gladly have been his slave. His wife! It seemed to her a greater dignity, a higher honor, than to _be crowned queen of the British Isles. It was such a strange, quaint, picturesque scene, not without a certain beauty of its own. The tall, dark trees comicboo cS (ee)