A Struggle for a Ring — page 97: what you’re looking at

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

A PROUD FAMILY. 93 earl—Stephen, Lord Waldrove—was a _ good-tempered, easy, indulgent man, only firm and severe where his family honor was at stake—then he had no pity, no mercy ; and Lucia, his wife, was, if possible, more uncom- promising than himself. To them the earth and all that it contained had been made for the Waldroves; they con- sidered themselves second only to royalty; they were proud to the proudest degree; either of them, father or mother, would rather have seen one of their children dead than married beneath them. In their children this exag- gerated sense of honor existed, although it took with them a different shape. © It was to this family, prouder than the proudest, that Vivian, Lord Carsdale, was to introduce the dancing- master’s daughter as his wife. CHAPTER XIII. A PROUD FAMILY. The Countess of Waldrove sat alone in her beautiful morning-room—a room such as one seldom sees out of a dream or a picture. ‘The hangings were all of superb amber satin and white lace; a few rare crimson flowers, in beautiful jardiniers ; a beautiful copy of the Venus de Milo, © standing between curtains of amber brocade; a few pic- tures, each one a gem; a lovely face by Greuze, a Madonna by Raphael, a landscape by Claude, and one ur two water- colors that the countess had finished most exquisitely her- self; gems of art, exquisite pieces of Dresden china, a rare (E(@) mn Cc ,00 (ele)