Ellen Percy; or, The Memoirs of an Actress — page 62: what you’re looking at

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

ELLEN PERCY; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF AN ACTRESS. Pa Z H/4\ } f —— YY, \ - 42 Sy aS VLE, fa Air Al Wit A/ i yh 2 t it ' } Wa Wit ‘ Her tears continued to flow forth freely: her bosom heaved with emotions which appeared to be suffo- cating her. “ Tell me, my dear friend,’ I said, deeply af- fected, “ is there anything I can do for your com- fort or solace? Methinks there is something upon your mind 6: “ Ellen,” said Melissa, “ sit down by my side again—and I will give you my confidence. But to you alone must this tale be told—and to no one else; for you will afford me your sympathy— a sympathy which I am not sure of receiving from others !” “Oh! from me, Melissa, you shall receive sym- pathy!” I exclaimed; “ and if having told me your tale, whatsoever it may be, you require any service done—if in any way my poor assistance may avail you—rest assured that it shall be ren- dered !” == ces (= A iy 4 j 1 | f | HHH MPA Sve WALA i UE 14 ay { | ‘ 49 WA SHH A \\\\\ NOMA Ss SSC EAN \ \\ \ S\N MMS ‘s ee Oy 5 i \ ‘ ~ —_— AS | Tar WAALS SASOS %@ \ \ ~ . . ~ \ Vas \s WAAN\G | i} \ \ > be ~ i h \ \ \\ we is eI \ b % \ ‘4 i Tatty WN) if i | lips with the most fervent gratitude; and she moistened it with her tears. I saw that though in one sense anxious to make me her confidant~ yet in another she was struggling against some different and deeper feeling, as if with the relucte ance arising from shame. “Ellen,” she began, as a blush again tinged her cheeks, and heightening into hectic spots, re- mained impressed there like fever’s or consumpe tion’s emblems; “I spoke to you the other day, of the miseries to which many of my profession are exposed ; and I hinted how these miseries en- hanced the power of temptations. Left an orphan at an age when the care of parents was so neces- sary—Oh, so necessary ! I experienced all those miseries, and became surrounded with all those temptations. Long, long did I endure the former and combat against the latter: but the first be- came too poignant and the latter too irresistible, Again did Miss Harrison press my hand to her | For when poverty, like a gaunt spectre, stares you No. 7.—ELLeN PERoY. ECORNIELOOO © S Coim