Her Faithful Knight — page 146: what you’re looking at

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

142 Darcy’s Mother. self, she is the most beautiful creature ever born into this world. What do you think of her?” ' “She is very handsome,” his mother owned; “but I find her cold and hard. Why, my dearest boy, she says—and she told me this, mind, told it to me, your mother—that she cares nothing for you at all, and has no reason to be- lieve you are fond of her.” The Hon. Darcy smiled and appeared not in the least discouraged. “She will love me, though,” he said, half to himself. “I shall teach her, and the teaching will be divine. Which is more exciting sport—the game that flies or the game that comes to meet you? I love her and she must and shall love me.” But when on the following day he met Miss Knight at the last rehearsal, he made no allusion to what had passed between her and his mother, of whom, however, he spoke with warm affection. | “Her love for me is amazing,” he declared. “She lives only for me. A mother’s love is the most sacred and beautiful thing in the world, almost the only thing which survives through good report and evil report to the very gates of death.” His eyes were fixed upon the darkened “flies” of the theatre above his head, and Dorothy could see that tears elistened in them. “T hope Lady Derrick will enjoy the play to-morrow,” she said, after a long pause, feeling it incumbent upon her to make some sort of remark. “Oh, I have a piece of excellent news about that,” Darcy exclaimed, coming down to earth again. “Graham North and his wife are staying in Hastings for a few days and I’m going to have him in to-morrow night.” “Who is Graham North?” . “Ts it possible you have never heard of the critic of the EComicvoo “S (©)