The Argosy — page 199: what you’re looking at

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

184 The White Witch. voice, looking at him with loving, shining eyes—with evident signs that he was moved by it. Then he raised his eyes to her face sud- denly, saw her look, and, turning his head abruptly away, said, while the hand he had on her chair trembled: ‘“ Aunt Madge, don’t you know—don’t you know that the women who rouse men most are—not the best ?” ‘Oh, Godfrey, for heaven’s sake, you will not fall—you have not fallen—under the influence of one of those?” she whispered, her kind voice shaking as she put her hand on his, ‘‘No, no, no, Aunt Margaret. Listen to me; don’t be so frightened. My affection for Elspeth is wholesome and right, and will grow stronger the longer I know her; that must be love. Now if I were to feel stirred and roused and excited, as you would have me, I should know that it couldn’t last, that it would be anger— or indignation—or hatred—or perhaps great admiration, but not love,” stammered on Godfrey. ‘“‘ Godfrey, tell me on your honour: do you love another woman ?” ‘No. The only one I love is Elspeth Thornhill,” Whether this was true or not, it was clear as day that he believed it. His aunt leant back more satisfied. And the next day, without any more sermons or warnings, but with blessings for him and a present for Elspeth, she let him go: and, having been just three weeks away, he returned to Croxham. CT ee eT ee A SIREN’S SONG, THE first face to greet Godfrey Mayne on his return to the Abbey was Miss Dixon’s: and it seemed to him that she looked at him mockingly, as if she had guessed his errand and its failure. For he had failed in his researches so utterly that he had no course left but to acknowledge his defeat and wait for time or chance tv set him on the right track. At the very outset he had been met by an unexpected difficulty : nobody in Norwich or its neighbourhood, to whom he applied, had ever heard of Dr. Dixon. He had made in- quiries at the post-office, consulted directories, with the same result. His step-mother had so often alluded to her first husband as a doctor, that Godfrey knew he was not making any mistake. But he read carefully through the list of all the Dixons in Norfolk of whom he could find an account, he hunted out the tombstone of the only one who had died recently, and having found him to have been a widower and a wheelwright, he decided that he had no clue there. This first defeat made the case look graver; for it involved a sus- picion that not only Miss Dixon but her mother had given either a false name or a false indication of their late residence. The latter GOmMmicbooks (E(0) m ‘