The Works of George W. M. Reynolds — page 22: what you’re looking at

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

THE OLD MAN’S SECOND MARRIAGE a) as he was wont to be excessively indulgent toward his nephew, the latter, when his education was finished and he left college, plunged into all the dissipations and debaucher- ies of London life. For some time the old nobleman seemed unconscious of the evil courses which his nephew Ralph was pursuing, but at Jength he received such intimation thereof —either from well-intentioned friends or mischief-making gossips — that he was induced to watch the young man’s proceedings. One inquiry led on to another, and Lord Saxondale suc- ceeded in unravelling such a complicated skein of vices, profligacies, and even villainies on the part of his nephew, that he recoiled in horror from the frightful discovery. He learned that Ralph was an inveterate gamester, a cold- blooded seducer of innocence, and a profligate of the most unscrupulous character; that speculating upon the cer- tainty of inheriting the title and entailed estates of Saxon- dale, he had borrowed large sums of usurers; and that he had even been heard to drop dark hints “ that if his old uncle did not soon take his departure from this world, he would adopt means to send him prematurely out of it.” This might have been mere idle talk or wretched bravado on Ralph’s part, but certain it is that the discovery of the young man’s base ingratitude produced a powerful impres- sion upon the old lord. He did not pause to reflect whether his own exceeding indulgence might not have been mainly instrumental in plunging Ralph Farefield into the vortex of dissipation, but, being a man of very strong feelings and of decided character, Lord Saxondale suddenly became as stern and implacable as he had previously been affectionate and foolishly indulgent. All this investigation into Ralph Farefield’s conduct had been conducted unknown to the young man himself, and while he was pursuing his pleasures and his debaucheries, he little suspected the storm that was brewing over his head. At length it burst. One morning, just as daylight was making the street-lamps burn dim and sickly, Ralph was endeavouring to effect his usual stealthy entrance by a back door into Saxondale Mansion in Park Lane, London, when he was suddenly encountered by his uncle’s steward, who put a letter into his hand and peremptorily bade him quit the house, MHalf-intoxicated as Ralph was at the time, CONNIE OOOKS (FO)