Excerpt from Marriage in China, Vol. 5Yes Claude Fortescue, that is my dear boy's name. My sister married Captain Fortescue on his return from India on his return from India, ' she repeated musingly. He did not live many years, and my sister died just before Claude went out to China. It was almost as well, it would have been such a great grief to her. But then, I suppose, he would not have gone. To let you into a little secret, I think he was very sorry to have to go back to China this time, he seemed so greatly taken with your niece - cousin, I mean. N ot that he proposed, ' said Miss Gardiner, blushing. I certainly thought he would have, but I feel sure he did not, or Lilian would have told me of it. But he was certainly greatly taken.' A girl's figure had been visible in the greenhouse for the last few minutes, and she now came into the room, a young girl in a pale green and white dress, a large straw hat, that had fallen back from off her head, still tied round her throat. Very young and very pretty, yet the first thing every stranger noticed about Lilian Grey was rather her high-bred air and carriage than her beauty. W'ith a dainty grace, that was an inherent part of herself, she now offered the first pink of the season to the dark lady, then, seeing the two elders apparently absorbed in their conversation, passed out by the open window as noiselessly as she had come in.Mrs. Betterton had indeed the air of being very much preoccupied, as she accepted with some bewilderment the ¿ower the young girl offered with such a pretty gesture.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.