José — page 156: what you’re looking at

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

JOSE. 149 mile after mile passed away under her pony’s hoofs. The distant hills, contrasting in manifold hues, were no longer so far off; small strips of timber alternated with open plains and blended into a picturesque, hilly landscape beyond, through which the river, now concealed from view, again reappearing, wound its devious course, like a silvery band. Mary could not help thinking of Mc Gregor’s projected settlement. Peopled, this spot must be a perfect paradise, and yet she shuddered as momentarily she placed herself in the positicn of . McGregor’s wife, the mistress of all. There had been a time when she could have met the young man without aversion, although her womanly in- stincts had divined the hopes he entertained. That was shortly after her father’s arrival in the East, and possibly she had then been less unhappy in this seclusion amid such gorgeous scenery. But at a - subsequent period an occurrence of a trifling char- acter, such as so often shapes man’s destiny, had given her thoughts and feelings a different range; had made Brown’s plans and McGregor’s hopes, about which she had formerly never taken the pains to ask herself any questions, appear to her utterly impossible, arousing in her bosom the energy of resistance she had never, previous to her arrival at the fort, suspected herself possessed of. Yet she had never hoped—she had not ventured to hope. In the seclusion of her own heart, however, there was a picture like the remembrance of a dream, which she appeared to have forgotten; but which, nevertheless, constituted the one solace of her existence. She started as her horse stumbled, and drew rein. She must have ridden a considerable distance, for- Gomichbooks (E(0)