Weaker than a Woman — page 123: what you’re looking at

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

rye 114 __. WEAKER THAN A WOMAN. gagement must be broken. You said you would believe it when I wrote it. Believe it now, forI say that it must end. In the years to come we may be friends—never anything more. _. ViIoLEtT.”’ He read it with unbelief. Some one had compelled her to write it; it had not been done of her own free will; of that he was sure. The second note was from his humble, faithful friend, . Jennie, the pretty housemaid, written with many apologies for the liberty she had taken; but she wanted him to know that her young lady would be at home at the Limes that night, on her road from North Alton to London. Her master and mistress were going to London with Miss Vio- let, che added, and she was afraid there was mischief on — foot. It was her own private opinion that they had per- suaded Miss Violet to marry some one else. If he went to the Limes late that evening, she would keep the entrance gate and the garden gate open, and she would manage that he should see Miss Haye. He read both letters through, but he did not lose his reason this time. A calm, settled despair came to him, against which he struggled blindly; he would not. believe that his love was false even though he read it in her own handwriting. He would not believe it unless she told him so herself; anything was more credible than that she should have deceived him and broken her word. When he ~ believed that, he said to himself, the heavens would fall. Whom could she be going to marry? How absurd! How ridiculous! He had never heard her name mentioned ex- cept with his own. He knew that she had many admirers, but who would dare to speak of marriage to her when it was well known that she was engaged to him? He could well understand that it was Jennie’s own sensitive care and anxiety for him that had led her to make the mistake. He would go, however, and see Violet, and hear from her what it all meant; but not at night; certainly not when it was late, as though he were afraid of being seen. He was her betrothed lover, she was his promised wife. He would go up to the front door in the broad daylight, and ask to see the girl who had promised to marry him. Sud- © denly he remembered that, if he did so, he must betray Jennie. Violet’s return had been kept a secret, and the family would at once suspect her of having betrayed it. Another thing had occurred to him; if they did not wish him to see Violet, and he went in a straightforward, honest way to ask for her, they might, and most probably would, sf 2 t-we ‘ ee We 4" ta ‘ee —_— z ° ly fy . a oe ." mie comicbook