Bonny Jean, and A Severe Threat — page 162: what you’re looking at

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

A SEVERE THREAT. , 155 blue serge and a sailor hat, her thick walking boots protecting her small feet from contact with the damp earth. All traces of the frightful storm of the preceding night had disappeared, save for the wet foot-prints left by the rain, and the boughs which had been tossed from the wind-swept trees and occasionally intercepted the pathway. The girl turned her face up to the morning sky, and came to a halt with a delicious little laugh, which seemed to bubble up from her heart and overflow the rosy lips. As I have observed, she was no beauty. Her face was not at all remarkable in the way of complexion ; her nose was a trifle to heaven inclined ; her eyes were brown and brimming over with fun; and the thick brown hair lay in a fringe upon the low white brow, after the approved fashion. “ De-lightful !” she exclaimed, drawing a long breath, as though striving to inhale all the pure air possible; ‘‘the dear, blessed country! It makes me feel like a new creature. Yet how they all tried to frighten me out of coming to this dear old-fashioned place for a bit of rest. ‘They said that I would be lonely; why, it isn’t half a quarter.as lonely to me as London—smoky old London in the rainy season (and when isn’t the rainy season there?) when I was out of employment for a few days and had to stay cooped up in Mrs. Dean's stuffy old rooms waiting for fortune’s wheel to turn in my favor. Ah, well! I’m right glad that I secured a re-engage- ment at the Coronet. Ruel though we fave got to take a provincial tour this summer.’ She stooped to gather a bunch of fragrant hawthorn from a hedgerow, near by, advancing with a graceful little prrouezte, which unconsciously betrayed her calling. For Dora Wylde was a theater actress. Not a grand trage- dienne, or a recognized star in the theatrical galaxy, but a patient little plodder in the lower walks of her chosen pro- fession, appearing nightly in her small parts, dancing and singing, and reciting the few lines allotted her, all for the =) Eomichooks.co