I Forbid the Banns! — page 45: what you’re looking at

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

ON AN OCEAN ISLAND. 35 “ Certainly,” she replied, putting her hand frankly into his. He held it for an instant with his eyes fixed gravely on her face. ‘ And now,’ she added when he had dropped her hand, “you will, I am sure, tell me why you asked me to do all this. If you do not tell me I shall feel that I have been extremely silly. It is bad enough to be silly, but it is heartrending to feel that one has been silly.” “That is quite true,” said he. “I do not think you have need to reproach yourself in this case. It was a curious fate that led me to this place, to this very spot, to this rock with its flat surface and its curious spire. I seem to have known it all my life, though I have never been here before. It would be interesting to know how much of his own recollections a father transmits to his son in the same way that he transmits, in the most friendly spirit—say, the gout or epilepsy.” “It would be extremely interesting,” said she, ‘if the person who made the communication to you was not discursive, and inclined to stray from his text, other- wise ‘ “IT beg your pardon,” said he. ‘ It was at this very spot thirty-one years ago that a man stood, while a beautiful girl walked toward him just as you have done. That man was my father, and the girl became my mother. They had never seen one another previously. It was in a mist, and if she had not walked into his arms she should certainly have-gone over the brink of the cliff. I heard the story when I was a boy, and I was anxious to realize the scene now that Fate had led me to this place.” ‘And have you succeeded in realizing it?” ‘‘T have succeeded amply. I suppose it was part of the ‘cunningly laid scheme of Fate that I should be given the means of realizing the scene that took place here so many years ago.” Gomichbookssco