The Illegal Marriage — page 56: what you’re looking at

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

48 THE ILLEGAL MARRIAGE, CHAPTER IV. THE CONFESSION—A SHOT FROM THE SWAMP. Bidding adieu to her friends in Macon, Miss Mor- gan rode the seventeen miles home ina state of reverie. In all her life she had never experienced the sensations which came upon her then. Nearly two years had now passed since her return with the Stannards; and for the past twelve months, at least, her home life had been far from pleasant. Drinking heavily again, her father had suffered from his excesses, and already mania-a-potu had twice warned him that his life or reason was in danger. Even to her he had grown cross and irritable. Cecy bore with him patiently until she became really love-sick—as most men and women do at some period of their lives—and grew fretful and irritable herself. She had gone away feeling that her father’s temper was hard to bear; she returned feeling that she could bear anything and be cheer- ful. : The marked contrast surprised even herself. “Tam a child—a very child,” she thought; “and though it may seem silly in me to say it, and do not feel that I shall ever be unhappy again. At least I hope I may not,” she added mentally, as a doubt came into her mind. _ Often, as she rode along, these thoughts came up; often she pressed her hands over her heart to see if GComicbooks (elo)