The Works of George W. M. Reynolds — page 392: what you’re looking at

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

THE DENOUEMENT 875 hands in anguish. (‘I admit that I have deceived you. 1 have been very culpable. But this chastisement is terrible. Oh, whatsoever plea be put forward, the world will look upon me as disgraced. Suspicion and scorn ever attach themselves to a woman who is separated from her husband. Oh, Sir Frederick — ”’ But here her voice was lost in piteous sighs and sobs, and so convulsed became her bosom that it seemed as if it must burst. ‘“‘ As for you, my lord,’’ continued the merchant, cold and implacable, as he averted his looks from his agonized wife and turned them upon her brother, ‘‘ you will find a ready apology for never again seeking my presence. The brother of a woman who is separated from her husband 1s supposed to take the woman’s part, and you need not hesitate, Lord Rushbrook, to proclaim that you can never more think oi speaking to me after my conduct to your sister. I shall not contradict your statement. Let me rather pass in the world as being harsh, arbitrary, and cruel, if you will, but let me not be regarded as that which I really am, a miserable, despicable, contemptible dupe.”’ “My God!” murmured Anastatia, and she wrung her hands with anguish. “So you see, my lord,” continued Sir Frederick Latham, “you have an easy game to play, and so long as you play it in the manner I am now dictating, your own secrets will be safe with me. But if through malice or by accident you ever let slip a syllable which shall unveil me as a dupe, if you ever breathe a word which may raise a suspicion as to how I have been deceived by this accursed marriage of mine, that moment will I proclaim the whole truth to the world. Yes, I will proclaim it to the world. I will tell how you, Lord Rushbrook, played the part of a vile felon, a villainous robber in my house — ”’ A hali-stifled shriek and another galvanic start denoted the exquisitely excruciating torture which Anastatia was ex- periencing; and then her half-wild, half-dismayed looks wandered from the countenance of her husband to that of her brother. ‘Hush, hush, for God’s sake, hush!’ exclaimed the vis- count, starting up from his seat with a face that was livid through mingled terror, confusion, and shame, as he glanced ECORNICLOOO SS (E(@)