Should She Have Left Him? — page 118: what you’re looking at

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

PLANS THAT FAIL. 105 trouble that had chastened and refined, not hardened it In a low and gentle tone she said in simple salutation : “Mrs. Courtenay ?”’ “Mrs. Adams, I presume,” replied Mrs. Courte- hay, rising. As the younger lady begged the older one to femain seated she took another chair herself. Mrs. _ Courtenay, to her extreme annoyance, felt embar- fassed. This young woman was guilty of the bad laste of being diametrically the opposite of what Mrs, Courtenay had determined she was. Instead of being loud and aggressive, she was gentle and tttiring; instead of possessing a flaunting and flam- boyant handsomeness, her beauty was delicate and teined; instead of being a vulgar young person, she was ladylike, self-contained and self-possessed. Mrs. Courtenay’s premises were all wrong; but she was in for it, and she went at her business much as Taurus goes at a red gate. “I have come to you,” she began, “on a matter deeply concerning our two families.” This coupling of the known Courtenay family with the unascertained Hallock family was intended to be conciliatory, but the air and tone of condescension spoiled the effect. “Yes?” inquiringly replied the younger lady, intuitively feeling that the five months as Mrs, Trescotte, which had spoiled her domestic peace, Was the matter. “You may not be aware,” continued Mrs. Courte- ff COIN @ LOOO cS (GO)