A Struggle for a Ring — page 73: what you’re looking at

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

WELCOMING A SON-IN-LAW. 69 ‘‘Ah, that simply means an excuse for having a little ‘weak brandy and water,’ mamma. _ I will get it for you.” But all further sensation was put an end to; a carriage drew up to the door. Mrs. Derwent just peeped out of the corner of the window, then sat down, looking very much overcome. ‘* Hettie,” she said, ‘‘I am all in a tremble. It isa private carriage. What will the neighbors say?” ‘“No one cares,” replied Hettie; ‘‘but if Alice has married some one well off, she is an angel, mamma, and I do not hesitate to say so.” ‘‘T do not see that marrying a rich man makes her an angel,” said Rose, quietly. ‘You never understand,” was the quick retort. But Mrs. Derwent held up her hands. ‘‘ Hush, my dears—no quarreling; they are coming in. What is he like, I wonder?” The door opened, and Alice, pale with emotion, pale with fear and dread, yet looking inexpressibly beautiful in her rich traveling dress, entered first. She was followed by a gentleman— they recognized that fact at once—a gentle- man with the ‘‘ grand air” that belongs to men of noble birth, His features were clear-cut, firm, and proud, his eyes dark and bright, his lips proudly delicate, his face filled with the eager hope, the impetuosity of youth—an aristocrat, a white-handed gentleman, as Hettie phrased it. And the apparition struck every one dumb. Frank was the first to recover himself. With the candor of:-his age, — he said : ‘¢My word, Alice, you have married a swell Then the family recovered itself, and from each one present came a murmured rebuke. +P (E(0) mm c) ,00 (€ @)