The Argosy — page 339: what you’re looking at

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

320 Caroline Heath. Miss Williams laughed. ‘* How silly you are, Carry. ‘Great and grand!’ We have always known who he is; anyone can see that he’s a gentleman. His late father, John Rochester, brought some important engineering project to a successful issue, was knighted for it, and became Sir John. I daresay George, in his turn, will be Sir George some day.” ‘And he can stoop to woo me /” thought the dismayed girl, as she bent over the bed again. ‘‘Does he, though? or has it been abl “He is engaged to his cousin, Grace Ormby,” tranquilly ran on Emma, who had not the least notion how the land lay in the other quarter. A dart, as of a poisoned arrow, seemed to be making havoc of Caroline Heath’s heart. She moved a little further away to hide her face. It was pallid as death. “Ts the engagement a recent one?” she asked, when she could command her voice to indifference. ‘Not at all. Lady Rochester was talking of it the last time she called here. .Grace Ormby has a large fortune. Mr. George is wise enough to see on which side his bread is buttered, and goes in for his cousin. He may be in love with her for aught I know to the con- trary ; she is a handsome girl, and would be a nice girl but for her pride. We have cut enough, I’m sure, Caroline; let us take it in.” After that day, and its rude awakening, matters seemed to have changed. It was as if a crisis had come and stopped things. Whether Caroline in her bitter hopelessness avoided Mr. Rochester, or that he spent his leisure time with his mother and her friends, certain it was that there were no more stolen meetings. The weather continued to be hot and lovely ; it had been a glorious summer; and though September was now in, the sunny sky might have been that of August. During this time Squire and Mrs. Williams gave an afternoon party—sports and dancing on the lawn, perpetual refreshments indoors, a crowd of gay people, gay voices, and gay attire. Amid the guests were Mrs. Heath and her step- daughter. Caroline went to it in inward tumult, dragging with her her aching heart. She wore a white, fresh, unpretending dress, with ribbons of the palest pink, and a straw hat wreathed with small wild roses. She was by far the prettiest girl there, the quietest, most retiring, most modest ; and the handsomest and most imposing, in her dainty robes of lace and blue silk, was Miss Ormby. Caroline regarded her from a distance, and could not withdraw her fascinated gaze. To her jealous eyes Grace had all the be- witching beauty of an enchanted princess; her golden hair scin- tillated in the sunlight, her dark blue eyes were proudly beautiful. Now she was standing the centre of a host of worshippers, and now she was accepting an ice which one of them offered, and now she ECOnNIELOOOKS.E@ im