Thrice Lost, Thrice Won — page 246: what you’re looking at

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

aoa Yor her husband, in life and in death. ES: aeakie Ete! “ESTELLA, BaRTRAM.” row _ hie one long, unearthly groan. It was the bitter wail of a 3 ‘soul i in its last fierce death-throe. Then he lay still. The hours went on; the night passed; the morning came. errs had never stirred; he lay there, like a dead man, wrest- _ ling in his own strong heart with his strong agony. The worst had come; he had lost her—his beautiful Estelle—the light of his life—his bride. The April morning broke jubi- - Jant and bright. The sparkling sunshine filled his room; the busy city woke up; its noise, its life, was astir around him. He lifted his head at last, and you saw that the battle was fought and the bitter victory won. His face was set in an ~ awful calm, but the agony of this one night had left it worn, and haggard, and hollow-eyed. = Passion and auty had battled fiercely, but duty had won i: _ dead to him as though she lay in her cofiin. | | _ He drew forth his watch; it was past nine. He arose and G = mins himself, as though he threw off a burden, and made a = careful toilet, with dull, mechanical precision. % Civilization has its minor uses, too. Our hearts may Be broek: but our dress, when we face our brother man, must not be disordered. | The days for sackcloth and ashes and wailing ~ aloud over our dead have gone by. al _ He had lost all that made life worth having; in a sunlit 8 sea his bark of hope had gone headlong down forever, but _ when he went forth into the busy outer world, it would have ; been a close observer who could have read the tale of the dreary wreck in his set, somber face. He found Mile. De Montreuil at home, alone, at ‘at leis- ure. She stood: by the window of the sunshiny morning- 2 _ room, amid her roses and geraniums, and canary birds, in a erisp muslin robe, with azure ribbons fluttering about her, _ and rose-geranium leaves in her velvet-hair. She stood fr resh, | _ and bright, and beautiful in her glorious womanhood—a as ‘queen of noble nature’s crowning”—and she turned to greet hi m with outstretched hand, and a smile before whose eloud- - less radiance the sunshine paled. | : SS eHow delightfully early monsieur comes! Of course you have: not breakfasted? Jam waiting impatiently for the bell, a am most _wnromantically | hungry. But, Alwyn,” in gu oie ; alarm, “something has — papeened, surely. How. stra r,you look! oo RNS oak : ~~ He Sedptan the Anos His face fell forward on the table, the day. His wife lived, and Kistelle De Montreuil was as — iD ng has happened, ” he said, ina voice rite Se and a3) m CET] com Ss P35 2, . her e Sf ee RS pea Phs SES = as * Pe ¥ f po * — 7 ~ = . a? +e . ¢ : = on a? 4 x hed vem £ ; _ <<. ot « o& Ee GaAs e qr, ua + ~ : ‘ onal ~