His Grace — page 192: what you’re looking at

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

186 HIS GRACE. although they would doubtless have preferred to scratch out one another’s eyes. “Oh, it isn’t that,’ returned Hurstbourne; “I don’t care a button whether old Devereli loves usor hates us, and she doesn’t make much disguise of her hatred. I only call her the enemy because she is hand and glove with Paul Gascoigne, who is our enemy if ever we had one. Moreover, I can’t see why you should be so eager to thrust your sister into the degraded mob which goes by the name of London society. She would be a great deal better off and a great deal happier down in the country—where I wish to HeavenI was! However I suppose neither you nor she will be deterred by anything that I can say.” I answered that I had no fear of my sister’s being contaminated, but that I should sincerely rejoice if he would lend the force of example to his admirable pre- cepts by quitting a society which he professed to de- spise and which was evidently becoming far too ex- pensive for him. ‘Thereupon he frowned and grunted and went away. It was easy enough to put the poor fellow tosilence by alluding to his pecuniary embarrass- ments, and it was not very generous of me to adopt that method with him: all I can plead is, that it was necessary to shut him up somehow or other. I went to meet Nora at the King’s Cross station, on her arrival, and drove with her to Lady Deverell’s house in Upper Grosvenor Street. She seemed to be in better health and spirits than when I had parted from her, and she laughed as she implored | me not to pull such a long face. “T really am not going to die, Phil,” said she; “my disease isn’t a mortal one, as everybody is aware, and I cComicboo m