I Forbid the Banns! — page 339: what you’re looking at

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

CHAPTER XLV. ON THE APPROACH OF DAWN. ERTHA sat alone in her drawing room awaiting the return of Julian. She could not tell him what had occurred. How could she bring herself to repeat the words that that man had spoken in her ear in that luxurious apartment beyond the Cairo doorway ? She shuddered as she recalled the words. What sort of men were these who were asked to the houses of presumably respectable—cer- tainly wealthy—people ? Were there many like the one whom she had just met, she wondered. She had an impulse to fly—anywhere—anywhere-—away from London and London society. Julian had told her that she would be received with enthusiasm in London, where the people were not so narrow-minded as those in Brackenshire. He had spoken truly. She had been wel- comed into society; and this was what it meant—this feeling of horror and loathing—not only of the wretch who had insulted her, but of herself. She was conscious that a change had come over her. She felt that she was no longer the pure-minded girl who had worshiped the most beautiful ideals and had endeavored to realize them in her daily life. She had worshiped the ideal love, and her wor- ship had led to this feeling of self-abasement—of humiliation to a lower depth than had ever been reached (she thought) by any other woman who had ever lived in the world. And then she suddenly remembered the way in which Julian had gone from her presence in this very drawing room. Bitterness that she could not account for had been in his tone. 329 CONNIELOOKS (E©)