Her Faithful Knight — page 249: what you’re looking at

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

Dorothy’s Crime. 245 Dorothy Knight, had certainly made a will; she informed Messrs. Searle aind Glyn, and the said will was at the pres- ent moment securely lying, signed, sealed and witnessed, in the dead lady’s desk. She herself, Phyllis Knight, was fully acquainted with the contents of the same will, and as she was now able to leave her bed, she would be very glad to see the lawer and place her sister’s will in his hands, if he would call at Lockhart Cottages on the afternoon of the following day. And Mr. Searle, the head of the firm, did call, to find, not the “silly little provincial actress’”’ described to him by Mr. Derrick, but a young gentlewoman of extreme grace ~ and beauty and appealing, tear-laden gray eyes. True, her short-cut hair was evidently dyed golden, as Darcy had said it would be, but there was no other trace of arti- ficiality either in her appearance or her manner. She spoke to him with some timidity and reserve, and while quick blushes chased each other over her delicate face, she briefly alluded to her sister’s relations with her husband. “T can’t trust myself to speak of this Mr. Derrick,” she said. “The subject is an intensely painful one. His treatment of my sister was cruel and bad beyond belief, and her illness and death are indirectly due to him. I must earnestly beg of you never to let him know my ad- dress or hold any communication with me. Dorothy’s will was made solely to prevent any money she might have from falling into her husband’s hands.” “But had she at the time any idea of inheriting any property?” Mr. Searle inquired, as he sat facing her at the table with the open will in his hand. “Not the slightest. But she made money by teaching and painting. We had lived together all our lives, and loved each other very dearly.” Tears rolled down her face as she spoke. It was im- S (E(@) EOmIichoo