Product Description
This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1866. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... V.--A SINGULAR LOVE STORY. '| "HE hero of my present narrative was a dapper little man of perhaps fifty or fiftyfive years of age. He was amiable and intelligent, and, apart from the eccentricity of his manners, very gentlemanly. During the time I had the pleasure of his acquaintance, which was more than two years, I never in a single instance saw him out of humour. Though by no means aristocratic in his manners, he had evidently been accustomed to respectable society. He was not destitute of education, but could hardly be called a man of learning; although he had certainly read a great deal, chiefly however of the lighter kind of literature. He was far from wealthy, all his worldly riches consisting of an annuity of some two hundred pounds a year, which was in the hands of trustees, who remitted quarterly to Dr. Austin the sum due for board and medical attendance, and a certain amount for pocket-money. The principal feature in his behaviour was an affectation of boyishness, which occasionally rendered him exceedingly ridiculous. I say occasionally, for generally there was little in his conversation or manners to distinguish him from those we ordinarily meet in good society. His dress also partook of the peculiarity of excessive youthfulness, being as nearly as could be the costume of a lad of perhaps sixteen or seventeen years of age. It was some time before I got into his confidence; in fact, he seemed exceedingly averse to become intimate with any one. But one day I chanced to detect him gazing on a coarsely executed portrait of a fair, slim, insipid-looking young girl, and with such an expression of intense fondness as fully persuaded me that some love affair was mixed up with the cause of his mental disorder. I had often seen the same portrait befo...
