Thrice Lost, Thrice Won — page 182: what you’re looking at

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

~ qi DEP * 4 ©. 44 “hj b “ 4 2 “2 in fea tea a pk¢ Sane re ate ! a : t "4 Mi ar , ~ r oP) hot te b . fe ain ea Estella’s s Secret. 177 . 3 “i is fer ay Wage ieee, ate as a ‘lily, languid, drooping, silent, after 5 it ilmess—a piteous contrast to her superb lord. He q h are ‘was music and laughter, and brilliant conversation, “. = e’s thousands were speeding fast, when the door-bell ra started. “At this hour,” Alwyn Bastiat said; “almost midnight! Y Who ean it be?” ~~ JA dead hush fell. A servant flung ae the door, and, im a voice that rang through the < eda announced : : eS My. Robert Bartram !” x i va | “some, reckless. face, bold, roving blue eyes, and a splendid Jer meth and strength of limb strode into their midst. | a little, quiet, lawyer-like person followed; but no one heeded him. The tall young man made straight for the giver Foe the feast with the easy nonchalance of a _prince of the plood, holding out his ungloved right hand. a “Rather late, Alwyn,” he said, “but better late than never. & ‘he year expires at midnight, and it is half-past eleven now. 3 Very sorry to deprive you of a fortune, dear boy, but you see ‘sig alive, and likely to remain so for sone tine. te come. » lotted me out of your cousinly regard 2” n ow comer with large, startled eyes. a know you,” he said, slowly. “Yes, Robert Bartram, I | know 7 you, and you are in time.” _ His last words were lost in a. ahbine ery. Estella Bar- ram, , standing unnoticed near, had fallen fainting headlong up on the Boor, without word or cry. ESTELLA’S SECRET. The dinner-party broke up in the most idee gtenaiei -the best metropolitan society had received a shock and a W "ase ieteart and hurried homeward to spread the news. better than the best melodrama that ever was a >The: lost heir turning up at the eleventh hour— La: na returning to his ancestral halls with sensational effect —Alwyn Bartram uncrowned and unsceptered when every me th ough at ; him sure of his kingdom, and that pallid, ex- citable little shadow, | ‘Mrs. Siesta dropping in a dead and the golden hours that made Alwyn master of his dead rang—a peal so loud, so long, so authoritative, that every-_ ‘Tt was a pertect coup de theatre. You might have heard i feather drop, as a tall, fair-haired young man, with a hand- ‘ou know me, don’t you? or have all these years of absence peo lwst Bartram stood, pale as death, eazing full at the cS | Se Ree Se ae coe ‘comicboo A e A ‘ bt vA 5 heyy : ‘ <BR am as uA « ey ee, ; ft a « ; ‘ . A eae a oe Oi S e : <> % S ; tae “> a. ‘ y Pa Way 2 _ -¥ + . ¢ > Y . , o* aa A 7% 7 : > Si. ; te -_ oa - ‘ ce . a * : ~ “) ~ < a” elie Me « ° Fs Nae Some, » ae *~ \ Fam yee 1 © —ar -_ 4.) a Se