The Works of George W. M. Reynolds — page 257: what you’re looking at

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

CHAPTER XXIII THE THREE SISTERS THE day that dawned upon the night of Jocelyn’s ad- ventures, as just recorded, was ushered in by one of those briliant mornings which render the climate so wholesome, the heavens so cloudless, and the whole face of nature so transcendingly beautiful for the dweller upon the banks of Lake Leman. It was, as the reader is aware, the early part of May at the period of which we are writing, and many of those fruits which in England are not ripened until six weeks later were now gemming the borders, or hanging in rich clusters to the trees. ‘Thus strawberries, cherries, goose- berries, currants, and all the earlier fruits were mingling their luscious hues with the emerald foliage, and the gardens belonging to the suburban villas of Geneva appeared in all the pride of their beauty. It was about half-past seven o’clock on this lovely morning that three beautiful creatures were gathered in a balcony at the open casement of a bedchamber overlooking the garden of the princess’s villa. These were Agatha, Emma, and Julia Owen. Agatha, the eldest, appeared the least thing pale and delicate. Indeed, but three weeks had elapsed since she became a mother under the circumstances already described, and with an amazing fortitude and a surprising amount of physical energy had she performed all her duties as hereto- fore, ever in attendance upon the princess, always one of the first down at the breakfast-table, and scrupulously regular in observing the routine of the household. Thus.was it utterly impossible to suspect that she had so recently passed through that ordeal which is so terrible even for the woman who is surrounded by all comforts fitted for the occasion, 240 - EGomichbooks. co =)