Bonny Jean, and A Severe Threat — page 170: what you’re looking at

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

A SEVERE THREAT, | 163 coolly. ‘‘Had you struck the blow yourself, I should now be out of your way forever. Mr. Vernon, I have come to claim my wife !” ‘Your wife? You are mad ‘Not at all, sir,” returned the young man, calmly. ‘‘Of course you understand as well as I, the value of the marriage ceremony which has just been performed. Geraldine Vernon is my wife; she has been my wife for months; and the mar- riage between herself and that wretched old man is null and void. Good evening, Mr. Vernon; I am going to my wife!” and he moved toward the door of the room. Vernon struggled to his feet, panting and trembling like a half-dead creature, and caught the young man’s arm in a vise- like grasp. ‘«Stop !” he panted, ‘‘ or I will kill you where you stand Howard Ashleigh wheeled about and confronted the man be- fore him, with pallid face and blazing eyes. ‘‘Out of my way,’ he said, sternly, ‘‘or I shall forget your gray hairs and strike you down at my feet. Unhand me, Lionel Vernon, or is Vernon pointed to a seat with one shaking hand. ‘+ Listen,” he faltered ; ‘‘ listen to reason, Howard Ashleigh. You would not attempt to claim an unwilling bride.” Howard’s lip curled scornfully. ‘¢An unwilling bride,” he repeated, calmly. ‘‘No, sir. I am not of the same caliber as your friend, Sir John Sydney.” ‘‘Then hear me,” panted the old man, hoarsely. ‘‘I will admit there has been a fearful mistake committed, and-~——” ‘‘Ves,” interrupted Howard, sardonically, ‘‘you made a mis- take in not putting me out of the way with your own hands, instead of hiring an assassin, whose cowardly heart failed him at the last moment; and Z made.a greater mistake in appealing to you as possessing a shred of honor ora vestige of manhood. ” *©A fearful mistake,” repeated Vernon, as coolly as though ‘he had not heard a word that had been uttered. ‘‘We deheved 1”? 7? Eomichooks (e(0)