Angelina: Or, The Mystery of St. Mark's Abbey — page 20: what you’re looking at

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

THE MYSTERY OF ST, MARK’S ABBEY. 7 bourhood, who had made proposals to her uncle for ber hand, but were all civilly, but peremptorily declined; and it was also observed, that any over- tures of the kind never failed to throw bim into a state of great agitation, from which it was often a considerable time before he recovered. All these remarkable traits ia the character of Mr. Woodfield, had not failed to excite considerable wonder in the bosomsof those who knew him, and vart. ous were the conjectures that were formed upon them, but notwithstanding the mystery attached to them, such was the behaviour and appearance of him an his family, that they commanded univessal respect. We must now retarn to Angelina, whose mind had received a deep impres- sion from the mysterious adventure she had met with at the ruins of Saint Mark. In vain she tried to solve the ambiguity of the woman’s words, but the more she sought to do so, the more did she become lost and bewildered in the labyrinth of wonder and uncertainty. The strange being had declared that she knew her ;—that she was not what she seemed tv be! and yet had she never seen her before; nor could she imagine how she could possess the knowledge of which she had boasted, and of what service could it be to her to take such an interest in her fate? Then the inexplicable lines the woman had uttered,— what could they mean? What could be the meaning of the blood-stained shield and the raven’s nest ? In vain did Angelina thus rack her brain for several days after her visit to the ruins, but could not arrive at any satisfactory conclasion, Had she been superstitious, she would undoubtedly have set the woman down as a being of another world; but as it was, she tried to persuade herself that she was a person who had assumed the appearance either from aberration of intellect, or for the purpose of a hoax. Laura, however, was not so easily to be convinced,—she would have it that the being which had appeared to them was a spirit, and that it had come to apprize them of approaching death, either to themselves or a near relation, In this reasonable conclusion she was ably supported by Dame Gertrude, whose memory was amply stored with legendary lore, and who held all disbelievers in the marvellous in complete horror. An- gelina found it was no easy task for her to prevent Laura from divulging the secret of what they had seen at Saint Mark's, and poor old Gertrude was ac- tually upon thorns to go and tell the story to all her neighbours. For several days did Angelina continue to think of this singular event, and the more she reflected, the stronger became the impression on her mind of the woman’s mysterious warning. But yet, in spite of the caution she had given her, she felt a curiosity to inspect wand old abbey, which she, with great difii- culty, could resist. It was on the third evening after the adventare, that Laura being on a visi; to the cottage of Dame Gertrude, and her aunt being deeply engaged with a book, Angelina left the cottage, and walked through Redcar, towards the sea- beach. It wasa beautiful evening ; the sun was gradually sinking beneath the ocean, while his last rays still lingered on the bills, in dying splendour. The moon had also just shown her silvery countenance, and mingling her soft beams with the sun’s reflulgent rays, shed a pleasing melancholy over departing day. The gentle breeze scarcely moved the dewy foliage; all nature seemed hushed in a tranquil slumber; no sound was heard, save the plaintive voice of the night- angale, soothing the soul to pensive thoughtfulness. JOO (SO)