A Fair Fraud — page 158: what you’re looking at

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

A Fair Fraud © 147 She told herself emphatically that the attrac- tion was physical only—that it was because of his well-knit and graceful figure, his keen and clever face, and the direct gaze of his fine dark eyes that he influenced her, and that it was her own vanity only that rendered her susceptible to the evident attention of a man who was at the same time distinguished in himself and also plainly interested in herself. Yet, in spite of these self-assurances, Marion. knew at the bottom of her heart that the power this man was bevinning to have over her was of far deeper significance than the mere attraction of his pers: nality or the shallow gratification of her own flittered vanity. In spite of the wide diver- gences of opinion between them, she coveted his respect even more than his admiration, and she perceived with secret joy that, although he disagreed with her entirely in her championship of the girl she was determined to believe in, yet possibly he liked her all the: better for her whole-hearted and generous partisanship. ‘He will acknowledge some day that my woman’s instincts were rivht,’ she said to her- self; ‘he will recognise the nobility of Hester Lane's self-sacrifice, and will learn to honour and admire her for it as I do.’ It was therefore a blow to all her hopes and expectations on the subject when, just after she had entered the drawing-room, the footman GOMMGIOO <S (GO) uu