Witch Hazel; or, The Secret of the Locket — page 280: what you’re looking at

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

a Se ee Ee TT ne a oe ee ae distressed; [ could not think for a moment of eoun- tenancing your affection for her.’’ “But, grandmother——” “T know all that you would say,’’ her grace inter- rupted. “She is beautiful, talented, well educated— to all appearance a perfect lady; but we know noth- ing about her beyond that; according to her own story there is a questionable mystery about her parentage and early life, and a union between the house of Hartwell and a girl of obscure birth cannot be contemplated for a moment, not to mention this unhappy affair of to-day.” “And yet I love her,” firmly reiterated the young lord. ‘However, it must be understood, once for all, that I shall never a ages tor Miss Stewart’s band,” he concluded, decidedly, The duchess sighed. “T only desire. your happiness, my boy. I have lived for that alone ever since the death of your father, and the last thing IT could wish for you would be a inarriage with a woman whom you could neither trust nor respect. Still, [have never seen anything in Helena to excite aug ht but adiniration and affec- tion. Tome she has ‘always appeared a sweet and lovable girl, while no one cap question her fitness to occupy a high position. Her mother, as well as I, will be greatly disappointed over the downfall of our hopes,” “T know that Mrs. Stewart is ambitious for her daughter; but I have known also, for some time, that [I could never marry her, although until last evening and to-day I have at least respected and ad- mired her, I saw that in her this evening which assured me lion she would te hesitate to commit & great wrong for the sake of being reveng whom she disliked. Wis : EURO LNS