Thrice Lost, Thrice Won — page 199: what you’re looking at

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

if > PO ae " us sit down comfortably—here’s Essie, looking fit to drop. jar j tae ’ : : : 9 pf ' j : ‘ iv ‘ ‘ ‘ \ i ’ v4, - a y dem 4, . f ; ’ ) : « 4 a ad i ; , a - 7 " ; ,, a ‘ : ) r* 4, fi P d ’ a ees ayy tre r . ‘ % Mf ‘ i * f ' ’ ‘ ‘ iT oY Sate 7 , } Ld h wy) me iY aoa 4 4 " . “e J an / * Le an he y } r , ~ > os , ied Me vy rae ty! , iA i ix a *< “ * 4 4 Vig ‘ : > Vee” ‘a i A, y * + ” ae tf a Mh ~ : , r _ a * : a ‘ : th) iene ’ y fi : le AG => < a 4 7 . re » ¢? a ‘ t ah * en a jadi is not to he aeuke of. Pak! up your. ugly ietls > Ona Alwyn—you’ll frighten Essie into fits, and we enue. ‘come Bae an amicable understanding without its intervention. ea ee it up, and don’t glower upon us in that diabolical way. Take things easy if you can, and tell us how you came to drop — ‘upon us here like an-avenging angel, when we take you to be safely located in the pleasant City of Brotherly ove Alwyn Bartram drew out a letter and handed ua it ‘ to. the | smiling speaker. v “Did you write that ?” ‘ol asked, in the same unnatural voice. A “Tid I write this? No, my Kievan I did not. My big, slap-dash fist isn’t in the least like this spidery scrawl, a d d ‘crabbed piece of penmanship,’ as the fellow says in the play. “But if you ask me if the composition is mine, I — ‘answer unhesitatingly, yes—and the signature, “Roysten Dar- — \ Enyeeket? in ‘life-on my own hook and became Captain. Davee, oes the : good brig Raven. Ah! those were merry days, when I was . Reckless Roysten, king of the quarterdeck, and master of a set of as bold spirits as ever scoured the high seas, or. cheated the revenue of our country. I wrote a letter to little Essie | here the night of my arrival—the night she fainted, poor cree tle girl—and this is a verbatim copy.- Your worthy house-_ keeper sent you this, I dare swear § Bienen Me ae “Tell me what it means.” gh ee sa 2 The two men stood eyeing each other with fans of onalys meaning—Alwyn, livid to the lips, Robert, flushed, smiling, triumphant. i “A long story, my ‘Avro hoe long to tell abies Tak: ae * ty ep ~s TS . ee “> ei < F spt ee el Se ee a : ee Tis roe ; Estella, my dear, don’t wear that frightened face—no “one shall hurt you. Come, here 1s a seat.” In the height of his malignant victory, that Sait ‘ok many an old. score, he encircled her with his arm for the second time, and turned to lead her to a sofa. But. suddenly, as" lightning strikes, Alwyn Bartram’s strong arm shot right out, : ~ a) : = —— “ss } =e straight from the shoulder, and his clenched fist struck the. 4 bravo between the eyes with a dull thud bad to hear. It was. i: a blow to fell an ox—it laid the muscular captain of the Raven flat on the carpet, with a fall that shook the “igs the’ red blood spouting high. Chis" Tt was the first thing to rouse Estella from hae & iI torpor | 7 of horror. With a wild, womanly scream at sight of the flow- Hy ing blood, she fled to the door, ‘and fell Reo knw on the threshold. ig ‘tea i The noise of the fall, the sound of that picreing geream, had brought the hole startled marion ce leat et = mil- ON AM i: bin! t)