Agnes, or, Beauty and Pleasure — page 69: what you’re looking at

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

AGNES; OR, BEAUTY AND PLEASURE. 61 gone off! The man started—Ciprina shrieked—|—for the equipage distanced him more and more the chaise was filled with smoke—and De Vere| every instant, until at length it was lost to his was not inactive! Quick as the eye can wink, | view in a turning of the road some three quarters had he taken advantage of the confusion to seize | of a mile a-head. Then panting for breath, and upon the pistol which the officer opposite to him| temporarily exhausted by the tremendous efforts had all the while retained in his grasp. That| he had made to overtake the chaise, De Vere pistol was torn from the sbirro’s clutch; and sank down upon a grassy slope by the side of the Charles hesitated not to deal him a blow so severe | road,—thanking heaven for his own release, and as to display little consideration whether it merely , deploring the fact that his exploit should have stunned or killed outright. Then, with the swift-| half-failed through the non-rescue of Ciprina. ness of thought itself, our young hero dealt a} He recked but little for the sbirro whom he similar blow at the man with the carbine; and at} had left at a distance behind: he had deprived the same instant, he with a tremendous back kick | him of his fire-arms; and though the individual of his foot sent the door of the chaise bursting | still retained his sword, yet this was a matter of open. The postilion had instantaneously reined | no consequence in the youth’s estimation. in his horses at the sound of the carbine’s ex- ‘If he come after me,” thought Charles, “I am plosion: the equipage came to a full stop; and| more than his match: for I need not let him ap- the sbirro leapt down from the box. He had in-| proach nearer than I think fit, But it ig not at stinctively grasped his carbine; but he did not | all probable he will risk an encounter!” immediately prepare himself for any hostile inci- And now, which way was De Vere to pursue f dents: the idea had naturally struck him that one} If he began to retrace the route which had been of his comrades inside the chaise had suddenly | hitherto taken, he might incur dangers from tho found it necessary to inflict the extremest punish- | fact of the sbtrro who remained behind, hastening ment upon an intractable and rebellious prisoner. | before him to spread the alarm. If he struck off This third sbirro was therefore taken off his guard, when immediately on springing down from the box, as the chaise stopped, he was literally pounced upon by our intrepid young hero, who at that instant leapt forth from the interior of the vehicle. An ejaculation burst from the sdirro’s lips: Charles felled him with a blow; but as the man did not lose his consciousness, De Vere tore the carbine from his grasp, and planted his foot upon his breast, exclaiming, “‘ Resist not, or your completely lose his way as to wander about within the same limit, and thus become a prey to the troops of mounted police that he had no doubs would be speedily despatched in search of him. Yet something must be done!—if was not by tarrying on that spot where he now found him- self, that his ultimate safety could be ensured! He therefore decided upon proceeding at random; and he at once struck into the defiles of the Apennines. life is forfeit !” The moon and stars were now shining brilliantly “You are the conqueror, signor, and you must |—the night was beautifully clear—and thus our dictate your terms,” was the response. young hero was enabled to pick his way amidst At that very instant the postilion suddenly | the wilds where he found himself. He beheld an whipped his horses, and the equipage dashed away | Occasional lonely cottage; but he dared not tarry at the fleetest possible rate. Whether it were that | to knock the inmates up and ask for shelter, be- the man was labouring under a panic terror, and | cause he still had the apprehension floating in his was bewildered with the dread alarm that the in-| mind that the whole district would be speedily trepid Charles would inflict some frightful ven-| swept by the mounted police. geance upon himself—or whether it were that he| A couple of hours passed, and Charles De Vere thougkt he had better help to at least carry off the | was still wandering at random, without having other two officials, as well as the female captive in | encountered a soul, and without having as yet the chaise—we cannot possibly determine. But} found an opportunity of putting into execution a very certain it was that away went the equipage| project which he had formed. This was to pro- af a pace so swift as to be only too well calculated | cure a horse as soon as he possibly might. It was to astonish the horses who were so urged onward, | at the expiration of these two hours that our hero as well as the driver who was thus successfully | found himself on the outskirts of one of those pic- urging them. turesque little villages which are buried as it were “Step |” shouted Charles ; “stop,” he ejaculated : | amidst the mazes of the Apennines, and which the “or by heaven, I will fire !” wayfarer stumbles upon so unexpectedly that he But the postilion heeded not his threat; and| becomes aware of the fact all in a moment instead indeed it was impossible for our hero to carry it|0f having been prepared by previous glimpses into execution—as the whole body of the vehicle, | gradually and gradually enlarging and developing with the persons whom it contained, was now in-| the view. It was now between three and four terposed betwixt himself whom it was leaving be- o’clock in the morning—but all was still silent in hind, and the postilion who was seated on one of| that village. Charles entered it with mingled the horses that were dashing away with it. Feel-{ hope and misgiving—resolving to incur every risk ing that his honour was more or less concerned in| for the purpose of possessing himself of a horse, doing all he could to effect the liberation of Ciprina| but on the other hand recoiling from the appre- —whom he looked upon as suffering entirely on hension that the circumstances in which he seemed account of a generous though somewhat immoral| to be placed might be deemed sufliciently suspic devotion towards Edgar Marcellin—the youth sped | cious to lead to his arrest. However, there was after the chaise as quickly as his legs would carry| 20 help for it: a horse he must have, together him—a carbine in one hand, a pistol in the other.| With instructions how to escape beyond the Tuscan Lithe and agile as he was, he dashed onward at a| frontier, to the nearest point in a neighbouring tremendous rate; but it was of course all in yain| State, whence he might at once communicate with COMmMiclooks.c© abruptly to the right or to the left, he might so - iin