His Other Wife: A Novel — page 52: what you’re looking at

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

44 “THRE DEAD LIVES.” nearly exhausted. The enraptured bridegroom, however, with the sublime credulity of passion, seemed utterly con- tent with his privilege to caress the glorious beauty of his young wife, and took no thought of the wide gap of years that divided his age from her fresh and perfect youth. , Mr. Croft had succeeded in inducing Leda to let her face lie for five minutes on his shoulder, while he bent over it in absorbed delight. - Thus engaged, neither of them perceived that a vailed and black-robed figure had entered the garden gate, and glided noiselessly up'the walk till it stood upon the porch, casting its somber length of shadow over them where they leaned together. Then they looked up, and fixed a curious gaze on the dismal apparition still shrouded in the long black vail. ‘Who are you?” asked Mr. Croft, with rude impatience at the interruption. The black figure made no other answer than to cast back the thick folds of the crepe from her face. A wan, aged, and corpse-like face, with the pain-tracks deep upon it, and bands of snow-white hair lying close about a cold, immutable brow, whose aspect of changeless despair was simply terrible. | This pallid creature turned two coal-black eyes of start- ling brilliancy from one to the other as she stood just midway between the husband and wife. Her look seemed Eomicbooks.¢o 3