Weaker than a Woman — page 65: what you’re looking at

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

* eo ™e » _ «-. | ae oe” “Ss —_ ea ~ aasose eee Ak C= .!8 2k s , oe Ae ee <* rte > SAK. iy 7. ~, ~ ang Ae yr. ~ ri . has oe & | ERY ee - ; : .o 2 : ‘ : a £ 1 og thw . <2 a , "« 1,8 = 7 ss - ~~ ~ s ws @ ’ ‘ ; . Pers ; L& . A* : ha gars ms s. , was » ‘as . at - + 7 i a q z ~< * J a “> * 9 hw . ¥ . J ; . ws Any Fs ae, kat” et me : t ~ <-~ - . ¥ 5 te 5 a Aes r >) 4 mL * - = »* : ! ‘ * 56 WEAKER THAN A WOMAN. have danced with Miss Rolfe, certainly not with Violet Haye. Sir Owen, however, was grandly indifferent; a man pos- sessed of forty thousand per annum is master of almost every situation, and he certainly was master of this. He enjoyed the quadrille very much. | “I had no idea al fresco dancing was so pleasant,” he s;” ~# 4 ¥ eee Tt VS tot ral © se ' it i * pe said, “but dancing anywhere with you, Miss Haye, would é be the same, I should imagine. Who was that gentleman talking to you under the tree 2” “That is Mr. Felix Lonsdale,” she replied. And he fan- cied the warm blush that came over her face was the result of his compliment. “Lonsdale! Is not that the name of the lawyer who forged a will, or something of that kind?” asked Sir Owen. She looked up at him, horrified by the words. “Mr. Lonsdale was falsely accused of having influenced one of his clients to leave him money, but it was not true.” “True or not, | wish that I were in his place,” said Sir Owen. “Why?” she asked, in wonder. | | “ Because you defend him. JI wonder ‘if you heard evil spoken of me whether you would defend me ?” | “Do people speak evil of you?” she asked. “I suppose so,” was the careless relpy ; “not that I care. Why should I care? Nothing of that kind matters to me. But I know they tell queer stories about me. They say I drink and gamble—they say that I— But I forgot—I must not repeat scandal to you. Now if you heard these things said of me, would you defend me?” : “ How can I answer you? You forget that I have never seen you before.” * Yet you defend this Lonsdale. Do you know him ?” “The Mr. Lonsdale who has suffered so unjustly is the father of the gentleman to whom you saw me speaking,” she replied, “and he is one of the oldest friends I have in Lilford.” “I suppose,” said the baronet, “that Lonsdale’s son imagines himself a very handsome man. That kind of man always thinks a great deal of himself.” | “Do you think him handsome?” asked Violet, who knew - that her lover had the statuesque beauty of a Greek god. plied. You are making a grave mistake, Sir Owen,” she said. “I never waste one thought on a man’s face,” he re- — -# “ ‘ _. -" sn > ¥ >," D ‘S's perTre. a wok Cee | ot : e ‘ ona | ‘ 4 \e < ~~ — wt. i . +e : Ju Dep ; é * > ’ a 7 4 = - : ’ i DeAt wa ae aah 5 . me Erg RS / be te “, r, aa. id m + oe ? ”“ os, it ate Fe