Vashti's Fate — page 37: what you’re looking at

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

32 FAMILY JARS—EVERLEIGH TRAITS. Aunt Mace: looked vaguely at the girl, as thongl striving to collect her thoughts. : ‘“My child,” said she, putting her hand on Nora’s head, ‘‘your sister taunted you just now with having no Everleigh blood. Lenore, thank God every day of your life that you have more of the traits of your mother’s family than of your fathers. Be anything but an Ever- leigh. Itis a bad blood—a hot, fiery blood—that sooner or later has brought destruction to all in whose veins it flowed.” ‘“Margery!” cried Mrs. Everleigh, in a tone of dread, from the depths of her easy-chair. ‘Tt is the truth, Eva,” said Margery, with a hard stern- ness in her voice, very unlike her usual emphatic energy ; ‘‘don’t blind yourself to the fact. The only salvation there is for these children is to tell them the truth.” ‘That is just what I want to know,/’ exclaimed Vashti, facing her aunt; ‘‘you are alwavs throwing out these remarks. Now, I want to know what this dreadful truth is. Iam sure I am old enough to know it, whatever it is.” Margery noticed her only with a scarcely perceptible curl of her pallid lip, never moving her eyes from her sister's face. | Mrs. Everleigh looked up, and with an expression of timid deprecation in her mild eyes, said: ‘‘T wish, Margery, you would tell them about Roscoe— _about—about—Neil Roque.” Margery turned abruptly away, the cloud darkening upon her face. ‘‘About papa?” exclaimed Vashti and Nora, ina breath. ‘Tell them yourself, Eva,” said Margery, in a low voice. ‘‘T should like to so much if I thought it was suit- able,” said Mrs, Everleigh, her voice a little tremulous, comic = S.C +e eid oi ia