José — page 136: what you’re looking at

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

JOSE. ! 129 comforts of the plains, justified me in counting upon your voluntary consent to the principal condition of our agreement; but just now,” he resumed, after taking a deep breath; “I learned the import of a conversation between you and McGregor, which puts an abrupt end to our mutual expectations. Let me finish, child,” he continued, pressing his hand upon his eyelids, as Mary made an effort to speak. “I am a pauper, an absolute pauper; I have invested my last dollar in the preliminary expenses of this enterprise, for which successful consumma- tion I still believed my old head to possess the necessary energy. If I abandon it I abandon the last hope of my life, and shall be compelled to find a precarious existence in the field in which other people, with the employment of my ideas, will ac- cumulate a fortune by a turn of the hand. Now let | me ask you: What has so suddenly caused you to change your views, and does it justify you in sacri- ficing the happinses of your father’s declining age, the ardent hopes of an excellent gentleman, and ~ your own comfort?” | Mary sat staring at the floor, with pale, immova- ble features. “There is something unnatural,” she began, after a pause, “in the idea of purchasing what a father calls his happiness, at the expense of the bitterest sacrifice of his child. I will do all that is in my power, father,” she continued, raising her eyes. “Toke alll have. I owe it to you, and it may assist you to re-establish yourself. JI will work and care for you; I will even continue to remain with you in this desert, if you desire it, and not complain; but do not interfere with my happiness—leave me the only right vouchsafed to a woman’s heart; to say Eomichooks (E(o)