Thrice Lost, Thrice Won — page 135: what you’re looking at

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

ti Benet Lesieonvars oy Vivien Grey, or “any 3 bo re TR MOL) Ae te” Wal oP 4 AT A ; Ves yt Oe wy e. i ~“ : {: y ‘ { ; 4 iy f ‘ : oF ‘ ; . i a | hs Me af iis 7G yet ( ’ ° ij * dnt “i oa es 43 Xe . at eee ie On i Csdetanas, Eve, heroes. She is a romantic child, and I am reir sh | a vy are—an image to dream of for a week or two, un atil a nev er hero comes. Your little niece does not know ‘wh iat. lov means.” ; PM Le age tie “T hope so,” Halen said, auiokive revitewetnes a sigl Be SS ‘er- haps you are right; and yet-—oh, Alwyn! could you: not. care for her? She is pretty enough and sweet enough, surel, ee “Too sweet and too pure for me. No, Helen; I have done with love and love-making forever. The lesson one false wo- se, man has taught me shall last me all my days. I would no darken our pretty Essie’s young life if I could by linking it with mine. And, besides, how could you part with her? ‘Sho is all you have.” “ “We must part,” teplaed Helen, ° na beteeer ice Wie ge sup-_ * 2 pose it is the dread of leaving her alone and friendless. that — makes me speak. My fortune, Alwyn—no princely one, it is i true—would still have sufficed for you and her, even if Robert — Bartram should turn up. It has been the dream of my life is to see her your wite, but like most of my life-dreams, | it. seems doomed to disappointment. I.cok i in ‘my face, Alwyn, — and read my fate there. Essie and I must part. At giles you will be as a brother to her when 1 am gone § Gee! | “Dear Helen, could I be less? I have no words to tell you 4 how sorry I am, and yet I have suspected something of the © kind this many a day. Still, let us hope the time of-parting may be far off; some one more worthy of your pretty niece than a jilted wretch like me may have wooed and won her > longs before. She cares nothing for me, and I would be a villain, indeed, if I tried to link her bright life to. ‘such > Le wreck as mine has become. Men’s hearts don’t break easily; . but better men than I have gone headlong to perdition for — less provocation than a false woman has given me.” Ps Go a ial Silence fell. Alwyn Bartram rose, after a ‘time, and quitted the room. “T will take a turn in the starlight ae sieht? a cigar be- ) i fore dinner,” he said. “Tell Norah not to fidget. Pu keep _ nobody waiting.” ! ; And so it had ended. Helen Mallory got up with. a Tong drawn sigh and went slowly to her room. | ae a “Like all the rest,” she thought, bitterly ; Nest every y hope of my life—doomed to end in nothing.” M Next day was Christmas Eve—bright, sparkling 1 0: t a All day long Estella flitted like a» brown-eyed bird fro a room to room, decking them with wreat is and ae and singing as she worked. = ote Pai me oe She loved Alwyn Bartram, her dark-eyed, mete er a eae ia Wie ng w ¥ aa “ ie De ey a ye ‘ * { - at > + Tica © * - 4 Read