A Servant of Satan: Romantic Career of Prado the Assassin — page 130: what you’re looking at

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

122 A SERVANT OF SATAN. their laziness and languor till the moment when they return home and have nobody except their husbands to fascinate. Some time had elapsed since Frederick had made the ac- - quaintance of the Van der Becks, when one day a letter. arrived from Holland informing Mr. Van der Beck of the death of his eldest brother, and demanding his immediate presence in Amsterdam. As it was the worst season of the year for traveling, and he was extremely solicitous of his wife’s health, he decided that it would be imprudent for her to accompany him. Madam submitted to this with much more equanimity than she usually displayed in her relations with her lord and master, and three days later, escorted by Frederick, she accompanied her husband to the steamer. As Mr. Van der Beck’s absence was to last six months, if not more, he intrusted his wife with allthe interests of his house and business and even with the signature of the firm. She was a remarkably clever and shrewd woman, and had on more than one occasion given him proof of her ability in business matters. In taking leave he especially recom- mended her to the care of Frederick, adding that he knew how much he could depend on the young man’s friendship and devotion. The deep mourning necessitated by the death of so near a relative forcing Mme. Van der Beck to withdraw entirely from society, she was now free to devote all her time to Frederick, with whom she became, as the days went by, more and more infatuated. Strong-minded as she was in all other respects, she seemed to have surrendered her whole will-power to the young officer, whose word was absolute law to her. He spent all the hours he could dispose of with her, and their intimacy grew apace. Frederick, as has been seen often before this, knew how to make himself perfectly irresistible to women. His manners were caressing and winning, and this, added to his numerous talents and good looks, made him a very dangerous friend for a woman like comicbooks (ele)