Penny Blood Serial Fiction — page 302: what you’re looking at

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

CHAPTER XXV LOVE - AFFAIRS Axsout four o’clock in the afternoon of the following day, Francis Paton might have been seen walking alone in a dis- tant part of the grounds attached to Stamford Manor. He had sought the shadiest spot, not so much because the sun was still powerful, but because he wished to escape the notice of any persons who might be roving about, and like- wise to be left in the companionship of his own thoughts. The youth was full of a nervous anxiety; there was a flush upon his cheeks, the glitter of uneasy suspense in his eyes, and from time to time, when his ear caught a sound like that of an approaching footstep, he stopped and flung an eagerly penetrating look through the shrubs and evergreens in the direction of the mansion. Then, as he descried not the person whom he expected, he walked on again, murmuring to him- self, ‘‘ How long the interview lasts! ”’ Indeed, for an entire hour — since three o’clock — had Francis Paton been walking to and fro in that shady retreat, and the interval which had elapsed appeared to him at least thrice as long. ‘T'wenty times had he looked at his watch, twenty times had he stopped short to glance in the direction of the manor, and again and again did he murmur, ‘‘ How long the interview lasts! ”’ But at length he beheld his sister advancing hastily toward the spot where he was awaiting her arrival, and perceiving that she came quickly, and not with a slow, languid pace, his heart bounded with hope, for he thought within himself that she had pleasing tidings to communicate. As she approached nearer still, he saw in her looks sufficient to con- firm this anticipation, and flying toward her, he exclaimed, “ What news, dear Elizabeth? What does our father say? ”’ 285 CONNIE DOOKS (COU