Her Faithful Knight — page 33: what you’re looking at

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

The Other Man. 29 the fault of his fair-haired ideal if her husband was un- worthy of her, as he somewhat hastily decided that Mr. Sergius Trevelyan must be. He felt certain that such a woman would never discontinue to wear her wedding ring without good cause. Perhaps her husband had al- ready deserted her; if not, how was he so remiss as to permit her to walk home through West End streets un-~ attended? She was very poor and very hard-worked. Why did he let her strain every nerve, rising early and working late, when he should be supporting her in that comfort and elegance to which she had been accustomed? Aylmer’s heart burned with pity for her and with indig- nation against her husband, as he recalled the thinness of her beautiful face and the tired shadows under her eyes. His heart ached for his own disappointment, but he felt desperately anxious to help her in her troubles. In his position as journalist, constantly meeting with other men in the same profession, it occurred to him that he might be the means of putting work in her way. There was no effort he would hesitate from making in his longing to be of use to her and to prove to her the possibility of a dis- interested friendship, which he had owned to be impossi- ble so long as he had believed her to be free. She had often wished for a real man friend, Had she not said so? And the extreme difficulty and delicacy of the position ‘of friend to a young, lovely and neglected married woman did not for the moment occur to him. He hied himself at once to the Museum. Her cold manner, her attitude of reserved self-defense were at once explained by her unhappy married experiences. It was not as if she had in any way encouraged his attentions or endeavored to pass herself off as an unmarried woman. Had she loved her husband, Aylmer argued, she would assuredly have worn her wedding ring openly before the world. She was not even in mourning; he could not hug Eomicboo S (S)