Darke Darrell, the Boy Detective — page 143: what you’re looking at

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

134. DARKE DARRELL. CHAPTER XXVIII. IN SEARCH OF DARKE. The more Mrs. Kendrick thought over the matter, the deeper became her interest in Leotine. The girl was smart, handsome, truthful, and homeless; she had drifted thither, who could tell to what end? Mrs. Kendrick was childless.) Why not give her a per- manent home? She could more than compensate her in affection. That idea took possession of her, and she could not get rid of it; she did not try to, but nursed it rather. When she supposed Leotine to be asleep, she stole quietly to her room. She turned on the gas and lit it. She paused beside the bed, folded her arms, and looked down into the face of the little sleeper. A calm, deep sleep it was, her countenance placid, her lips softly parted, her eyelashes touching her brown cheeks, her arms gracefully disposed, her black, sheeny hair float- ing over bolster and pillow. | “Poor child!’ Mrs. Kendrick thought, as she stooped and kissed her. ‘‘ She is certainly very handsome.” Extinguishing the light, she left the room as quietly as she entered it. | In the morning she called her to breakfast. Leotine sat up and tossed her black hair from her face, a bewildered — look resting upon it. ‘“‘Tcouldn’t recall where I was,” smiling on Mrs. Ken- drick. ‘* Breakfast is ready,” the latter said. Eomicbooks.com