The Illegal Marriage — page 72: what you’re looking at

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

64 THE ILLEGAL MARRIAGE. “He took me to see Adela, his reputed sister, and, boy as I was, I thought her charming. Her free-— dom surprised me at times, but I thought it the freak of a school-girl who had been closely kept from the world. “One evening we were speaking of a ball that was to be given on the following night, and Adela expressed a desire to go. I thought it a capital thing to assist her in escaping from school walls, and that night dreamed of the pleasure that I should have in seeing the surprise of this girl, when intro- duced into a new world. “Remember, Trippe, I was only nineteen then. During the day, these good friends of mine had taken me to a dinner, where we drank freely, and I was well under the influence of wine when I went to meet Adela. We went to the ball. My older companions led me on to drink still more, and when I declined, they insisted upon one more glass, and I yielded to them. “They had drugged my wine. I had a faint recol- lection of going back to the ball-room, of seeing everything in confusion about me, of falling on the floor, while a crowd gathered around. “When I came to my senses again it was evening of the following day. I felt faint and sore, and was trying to collect my thoughts, when Adela’s brother came into my room. “He pretended great solicitude for me, and called me his brother. Presently he asked me when the wedding was to be. I asked for an explanation, and he told me that in my drunken fit of the night previous, I had torn the mask from Adela’s face, exposing her to the whole room, and that, when remonstrated with, I had called the people to wit- Eomicbooks (ele)