His Grace — page 258: what you’re looking at

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

252 HIS GRACE. ‘My chances wouldn’t be greatly improved if I were older and richer, I expect,” he returned despondently. “TI wonder whether you would work yourself up into an awful rage if I told you something, Martyn ?-”’ I answered that his conduct for a long time past had enraged me to that extent that it would be difficult to conceive of any confession which could enrage me farther. “I’m not so sure of that,’”’ said Hurstbourne; “still I should rather like to make a clean breast of it to you. That can’t do either you or me any harn, if it doesn’t do us any good. I daresay I was mistaken, but I thought perhaps you might have guessed that I had fallen in love with.your sister when we were down in the country. I won’t deny that I tried to get over it as soon as I found it out; I had an idea that I ought to marry somebody with aristocratic connections, if I could, and I did for a time think of marrying Miss St. George—not because I cared a pin about her, but be- cause I wanted to cut that fellow Paul out. I should never have done it, though. I couldn’t have brought myself to the point of proposing to her, even if she hadn’t made me hate her by the way in which she spoke about your sister that night at the ball. I knew before then that there was only one person in the world who could ever be my wife—and that persor never will be my wife now. It wouldn’t be the slightest use to ask her, would it?” I hesitated for a moment (the complicated aspect of the situation being very apparent to me), before I re- - plied: “I don’t think it would be much use, Hurst- bourne. I am sure that, if Nora cared for you, she wouldn’t be influenced in the smallest degree by any- Gomichboo <S (E(0) m