Mezzoni the Brigand — page 171: what you’re looking at

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

MEZZONI THE BRIGAND. 163 ‘““Good-night, Walter,’ she said, putting both of her hands in his. ‘“‘“Good-night, dear Marion,’’ he said, looking _ fondly into her loving eyes. It was not until the expiration of nearly twenty- four hours that the two fugitives awoke from their long and refreshing sleep, when it seemed almost impossible for them to appease their ravenous appe- tites. The bath and fresh clothes changed them so entirely that it was difficult to believe them the same individuals who stood together before the colonel so lately. Marion, when she met Walter, clothed as she now was in her appropriate costume, blushed at the memory of the figure she must have presented, far more than she had done when she was dressed in that robber’s suit. As to Walter, could this handsome and neatly- dressed young fellow, now pressing her hand so fondly, be the rough-and-ready sailor who had so successfully fought their way down the mountain side, and conducted the English girl im safety from her fearful bondage to the brigands? Marion Bray, notwithstanding the hardships she had endured; was the picture of health and beauty. Her complexion was a little browned, but as Wal- ter carefully noticed, the color was fresh and clear, and her expression bright and happy. The colonel listened to the startling details of his child’s escape from the banditti, the story sounding more like a romance than like facts, yet it was literal. “These robbers have received a bitter lesson at your hands,” he said to Walter. And so it proved, for, as was afterward known, one of the first two pursuers, who had partaken of Eomicbooks (Efe)