Weaker than a Woman — page 93: what you’re looking at

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

-_— 4% , bal er oP are ae ae o* » — ott tek —- _ * rt * - PB kay Mee We Pee Se) yt a ? ae - : . so * B -Es 4 ye UV > ian Se ee | "ta 0 ee he oe « i. . >. . a : > is ~~ — ~ ae, ae 4 ~ T ( ' oe te 3 Pee dz ‘ = ¢* = ‘ . + RAL ¥ " ~ * - >. of s Ls 5 ».* —— f a . > ’ x as 4 »- ; ‘ ‘at as 84 WEAKER THAN A WOMAN. “Ts that all? What on earth does that matter? He ought to be ashamed of himself to presume to ask such a girl as you to marry him; he must be mad to think you would.” ‘He loves me!” she said, quietly. “So do I—so do many others. You must not marry him, Violet; he has no money, no influence, no position; his father is under a cloud which must darken the son’s fu- ture. You cannot marry him—it would be madness !” “Tam engaged to him,” she replied. “As if that mattered. Engagements like yours are broken every day; it is the commonest thing in the world —no one thinks anything of it.” She seemed to see her lover’s face as he had looked into - hers that night by the dew-laden lilac bushes—she almost heard his voice. She looked up at Sir Owen, her face deathly pale. “Do you know, Sir Owen,” she said, “that if I were false to Felix Lonsdale it would break his heart?” Sir Owen laughed aloud. “My dear Miss Haye, lawyers have no heart—what could they do with such a commodity ? He might lose his temper 3. but men never break their hearts—a good cigar will cure the most desperate love-affair. You amuse me.” ‘“T hope you are speaking falsely,” she said. “I hope men are better than you paint them.” | “They are all very much alike, my dear Violet,” he re- turned. ‘“Itis most refreshing to hear that you think any man capable of breaking his heart.” “Ah, but you do not know Felix Lonsdale. You do not know how he loves me.” | _ “JT never wish to know Felix Lonsdale,” he told her. “I have no partiality for men undera cloud. I know how. ~ much I love you, and that is more to the point.” NaS She shrank from him with a pale, scared face. She did not like this discussion of her lover. “Let me tell you,” he continued, “how much I love you. — I think you the most beautiful woman I have ever seen 1n my life. Your beauty gladdens my heart. To win it, and keep it always near me, I would give all that I have in | this world. I love you ‘well enough to lay all my wealth at your feet, to worship you all my life. I love you so well that neither your plighted word, the opinion of the world, nor any human power, shall come between us, I would - break every tie, every bond, crush every love, to win biti Sa wl -comicbook