Mrs. Bob: A Novel — page 214: what you’re looking at

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

206 HEARD AT THE FIFTH AVENUE. True, a man who has passed through the experience Squire Gordon has, of late, might be excused for ap- pearing unlike himself, but this is not just the true inwardness of the case. “Well, Mr. Pemberton, would you believe I had found the right party ?’’ asks the old gentleman, with a chuckle at Bob’s amazement. ‘“Bless—my—soul, if it isn’t—— “Craig Marvel—yours to command,’’ with a mock salaam. ‘Well, one thing I’m sure of before Iask a ques- tion—you’ve seen the squire.”’ The other smiles in a peculiar way. Bob even remembers it as one of the Gordon tricks, and is more than ever amazed at the wonderful] ingenuity of this clever man. | “Seen him—well, I reckon I’ve passed through some wonderful adventures since I left you here near midnight. Seen him, Mr. Pemberton—lI believe, on my soul, I have saved his life.”’ | ‘Relate it,’? returns Bob, quietly; not that he has any reason to believe this man is stretching the truth, for he knows Mr. Craig Marvel is the soul of honor. During the next thirty minutes he hears one of the oddest, most improbable stories that ever fell from human lips. Rider Haggard was never in it; this man of New York from his own actual dona fide ex- perience in his daily and nightly work could give the author of ‘‘She’’ points, and beat him out of the game. Bob takes it all in; he never doubts a single iota of the story, because he knows the man who is speak- ») comicbookss¢om