The Works of George W. M. Reynolds — page 152: what you’re looking at

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

THE TWO ACCIDENTS 135 her confidence in her husband, that the secret of the duel was to be so religiously kept. For the first few weeks after our young heroine was in- stalled in her new home, Lord Octavian’s conduct was of such a character as to give her not the slightest uneasiness. He never sought to be alone with her; he never regarded her in a way that might lead her to suspect that he cherished a passion for her; his demeanour was precisely what it ought to be, that of a friendly but respectful courtesy. Neverthe- less, the young nobleman continued to love Christina pas- sionately, devotedly, we might almost say madly; but he endeavoured to exercise the strongest control over his feelings, and if he could not subdue them, he at least did not betray them. The reader has seen that there were many good qualities about Lord Octavian Meredith, —- that he was naturally generous-hearted, and that though he did not love Zoe in the true meaning of the term, he nevertheless cherished a profound gratitude toward the wife who had brought him a fortune, and therefore experienced a full sense of his duty toward that wife. Besides, he perceived that she was devotedly attached to him, and it frequently made his heart cry out, as it were, in anguish to think that he could not adequately return the abounding fulness of the affection which she bestowed upon him. For all these reasons he made the mightiest efforts to stifle the feelings which he experienced toward Christina, and to force himself to remain in deed faithful to his wife, even if he could not be so in thought. Thus, as we have said, several weeks passed away, and Christina had not the shghtest reason to suspect that he cherished so profound a passion for her. It will be remem- bered that on the first day of her arrival he had rapturously taken her hand, and had regarded her with a degree of fervid admiration which she could not possibly help observ- ing, and which had made her withdraw that hand somewhat abruptly, as the colour mounted to her cheeks and as her eyes were cast down, but she was led to reflect at the time that the man who had rescued her from insult, and had risked his life as the consequence, could not possibly mean himself to insult her. Therefore this particular incident which we have just brought back to the reader’s recollection, and which occurred on the first day of her arrival, had not since CONnNIEDOOKS (CO)