The Argosy — page 342: what you’re looking at

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

Orr eee, te ee Cy SY MAY, Js&87. GO.) elo NE Teddy E.G HH, BY MRS. HENRY WOOD, AUTHOR OF “EAST LYNNE.” CHAPTER XIII. ‘FOLLY. HERE is no misfortune on earth so great as that of a troubled conscience: there is nothing that will wear the spirits and the frame like a burdensome secret that may not be told. It will blanch the cheek and sicken the heart; it will render the day a terror and the bed weary; so that the unhappy victim will be tempted to say with Job: When shall I arise and the night be gone? He is full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day: his sleep is scared with dreams and terrified with visions. Had Mrs. Oscar Dalrymple been of a different temperament, this unhappy state of mind would have been hers. But she had no very deep feeling. ‘Troubled in a degree she undoubtedly was. That terrible secret, the debts she had incurred, lay on her mind always in a greater or a less degree; for she knew that her husband when he paid them would be half ruined ; certainly crippled for years. Another season had come round and was at its height ; and Mr. and Mrs. Dalrymple had again come up to it. The past autumn and winter had been spent at Moat Grange, which Selina found insuffer- ably dull, and where her chief solace and recreation consisted in looking over her beautiful and extensive wardrobe, and trying on por- tions of it in private. A very negative sort of enjoyment. Where was the use of possessing these divine dresses and adjuncts, when no field was afforded for their display? Selina had ventured to wear one costly robe on a certain evening that she dined at Court Netherleigh, and was severely taken to task by her mother, who was the only other guest, and by Miss Upton, for appearing in such “finery.” They asked her what she meant by such extravagance. And that before Oscar too! Selina blushed a little and laughed it VOL. XXXI. Y SS} (C(O) COMICOOO