The Man in Possession — page 233: what you’re looking at

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

228 THE MAN IN POSSESSION. bright side of things, he could not bring himself to believe that Kate cared for him or ever would care— now. He had committed that unpardonable fault in a woman's eyes of placing himself in a position both false and foolish. One of either would have been bad enough, but he had actually succeeded in achieving both. The success had been quite unin- tentional—indeed he had been almost unaware of it until Kate’s words had enlightened him. ‘‘That’s just the worst of women—confound them !” he mut- tered wrathfully. ‘‘When you're in the right they've a knack of putting you altogether in the wrong. When you've tried your best to do something or get something that you think will please them, they say they never wished or expected it of you. And yet... . Oh, Kate, Kate, you seemedso different ! No nonsense, no affectation, no prudery. . . . That night when you came down to the kitchen and made the pudding, oh, how sweet and natural and womanly you were. Who could have believed you were the same girl who to-night stood absolutely ‘clothed in wrath '—storming at me—stripping off excuse after excuse till I was like a beggar shivering for want of his rags—until ” ‘* Holloa there!” said a voice suddenly. The young man oad just turned abruptly, and in so doing had almost run into the arms of another man—a tall soldierly figure—advancing rapidly from the opposite direction. ‘‘I—I beg your pardon,” he stammered, stooping to pick up his hat, which had fallen off in the col- lision. COMicloe (Sri C(O)