The String of Pearls; or, The Barber of Fleet Street — page 283: what you’re looking at

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

ROT sens ae ee THE STRING OF PEARLS. = 278 Arabella slightly bowed; and Johanna fixing her eyes, in which tcars were _ glistening, upon him, said— | © You have come to tell me that 1 may abandon all hope ?” ‘«¢ No—no; Heaven forbid !” ‘ * pleut flush came over the face of the young girl, and clasping her hands, | she said— | © Oh, sir, do,not.play with feelings that perhaps you scarcely guess at. Do , not tamper with a heart so near breaking as mine, It is cruel—cruel !”’ ‘* Do I deserve such a charge,” said the colonel, ‘‘ even by implication ?” : *‘No—no,” said Arabella. ‘ Recollect yourself, Johanna. You are unjust to one who has shown himself to be your friend, and a friend to him whom you hope to see again.” | Johanna held out her little child-like hand to the colonel, and looking appeal- ‘| Inglyin his face, she said— “Can you forgive me? It was not I who spoke, but it was the agony of my | heart that fashioned itself at the moment into words my better judgment and my | better feelings will not own. Can you forgive me?” “Can I, Miss Oakley! Oh, do not ask me, God grant that I could make you happy.” ‘ T thank you, sir, deeply and truly thank you; and—and—now—now—— ‘‘ Now, you would say, tell me my news.” «Yes, Oh, yes.” ‘Then let us walk upon this broad path, by the river, while, in the first instance, i tell you that it was only froma deep sense of duty, and a feeling that I ought not, upon any consideration, to keep anything from you, that I came here to-cay to give you some more information, and yet fresh information.” ‘You are very—very good to me, sir.’’ ‘‘No-—no, do not say that, Miss Oakley. Iam afriend. Iam only very selfish; but, in brief, the lad who was in the barber’s service at the time we think Mark Ingestrie called at the shop with the string of pearls in his possession, has told us all he knows upon the subject, freely.” ‘¢Yes—yes ; and—and——”’ ‘¢ He knows very little.” “ But that little ?” «¢ Just amounts to this :—That such a person did come to the shop, and that he is quite clear that he never left it.’ ‘6 Quite clear that he never left it!’’ repeated Johanna—‘‘ that he never left it. Quite clear that—that——”"> | : She burst into tears, and clung to Arabella Wilmot for support. The colonel looked inexpressibly distressed, but he did not speak. He feltthat any common- place topics of consolation would have been an insult; and he had seen enough of human feelings to know that such bursts of passionate grief cannot be stemmed, but must have their course. and. that such tears will flow like irresis- tible torrents into the ocean of eternity. Arabella‘ was greatly distressed. She had not expected that Johanna would have given way in such a manner, and she looked at Colonel Jeffery as though she would have said—“ Is it possible that ' you can say nothing to calm this grief ’’ He shook his head, but made no reply in words. In a few moments, however, Johanna was wonderfu'ly re- covered. She was able to speak more composedly than she had done since the commencement of the interview. «Tell me all, now,’’ she said. ‘I can bear to hear it all.” “You know all, Miss Oakley. The poor boy, in whose fate I have felt sufficiently interested to take him into my care, says that such a man as Thorn- hill did come to his master’s shop. ‘That he (the boy) was sent out upon some trivial errand, merely to get him out of the way, and that, pending his return, the visitor disappeared. He deposes to the fact of the dog watching the door.’ ‘*The dog?” ‘¢'Yes. Thornhill, it seems, had a faithful dog with him.” 9) - ea ; A * * _ SS aS UR SS eS LET LETS EE EL NEI eS a a EEL I IE FOI RI LLL TE LTT NELLIE OL ALE EFI PAPAS PES TREES AEE 386 : 4% a al se cance SS eet Mist lpepec onder pene reaath Railings tebe dastontanits 117" wedejese en latencies anette CEST LEAL ALLELE AL LILLE L OO. DALIT A ODN EDLC, comicbooks.com