Thrice Lost, Thrice Won — page 244: what you’re looking at

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

Be oe conten Stays i ~ "s FF we: 7 iS Bs. Bei a a wha ide gene aad | | The Fall of ve Thunderbolt. 239 ¥ ny tele ‘apthtine whatsoever of your wits. Mr. ‘Rion Bart _ ram,” she said, enaeRIDLy ; “and if I did I wouldn’ t tell you, . ‘There Ut . He returned to N ew ee Was he. disappointed ? Did he realy wish to find Estella? Not for one instant did he play hypocrite to himself, or the woman he loved, by pretending to answer yes. He has no wish to’ find her alive—he had _ never loved her, it was hardly likely he could begin now. - But he did wish to clear up the mystery that shrouded her - fate—to know, when his lovely Estelle laid her hand in his P for life, that no other woman on the wide earth had a i stronger claim upon him than she. __ The weeks went by, the months strung themselves out— : ‘three had gone. Spring was coming, and the Count De _ Montreuil was beginning to look wistfully at his idolized - daughter, and talk of returning to Paris. She had been so restless all the ten years he had known her that this. new content of hers puzzled him strangely. ‘Like the rest of the world, he saw the darkly handsome artist ever by her side, and ever most welcome there, and he could hardly be blind to what was so plain. eS cite =e Dy a5 s,s shrug, “and with this American artist. -.She will marry him, ML daresay ; but I wish she! would return to Paris first. I grow Sa of this New York.” _ Estella acquiesced at once. “Very well, papa, ” she said: “it shall be as you wish. I | - will prepare for departure immediately.” _ Alwyn Bertram heard the news with dismay. { At least I may accompany you,” he. pleaded. “The pea o Bipe “= * ’ ‘ het ; a arch can go on as well without me. I cannot live apart _ from-you, Estelle !” | ~ Miss De Montreuil shook her head resolutely. ‘Si i! over two months now.” —E Estelle.” But Estelle was merciless on this point, and at last the 4 despairing lover had to yield. — a: “And how soon do you go?” SS asked. Pin, a fortnight, at most. Like vour Kee torn Parisian, ‘pa: pa is in purgatory when not in Paris. And, when you Teach h Franee, oe play suzerain and I vassal. _Be con- —> “She has fallen 3 in love at last,” he said to himself, with a e spoke his wishes aloud at ae and, to his surprise, Be “You must stay behind until the six months have fully ca aatine come. Be patient, Alwyn; it is but little WAN. eternity—separated from you! Don’t be merciless, ree al dor ng ‘that evening, with a strange reluctance Gomicbooks: E(o)