Black Bess; or, The Knight of the Road — A Tale of the Good Old Times — page 173: what you’re looking at

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

a A SR aL, NS, SN acs A SASF 2 I SESE a ge a ee tg TR OTE a BLUESKIN: A ROMANCE, AT PRE LIS SAD IO. LILLIA = 6 even this transient glimpse, and then she was hurried up a broad stone perron, and through a massive door, into a dimly-lighted vestibule. ‘The Larches” was a mansion built somewhat after the picturesque Elizabethan fashion, with large, iron- studded doors; small windows, with diamond panes; innumerable gables, and fantastic chimnies. Its elevation was insignificant ; but it rambled over ground enough for half-a-dozen modern commodious dwellings to be buut upon its site. From this vestibule opened several doors, leading into different corridors and apartments, and from the part furthest from the door ascended a winding staircase. Half fainting with dread, terror, exhaustion, and fatigue, poor Edgworth Bess permitted herself to be led across the vestibule and up the staircase. A long, long, weary ascent, it seemed, of many hundreds of steps; but that was only her imagination, for the high- est apartment in the whole building—and that was the one under the turret upon which the clock was placed, was not more than thirty feet from the ground. At length the colonel stopped before a doos—*m size small, in strength remarkable. It opened, however, with a touch. The chamber into which it opened was a tolerably spa- clous one. It was plainly and scantily furnished. In one corner was an antique grate, in which a bright ‘fire was burning, and it was chiefly by its ruddy blaze that the different outlines of the apartment could be defined. The colonel seated Edgworth Bess in a tall, ligh-back emt, at a comfortable distance from the fire, and then he said— , ‘* At present, this is your residence. Look around you! There is little pleasing to the eye to beseen. In daylight it ig even more wretched. Here, then, you will stay until such time as you are disposed to hsten to me. But other matters now call for my immediate attention, and so 1m- ortant are they that nothing can detract me from them. ut before I leave, let me impress upon you this—you are utterly in my power! Attempt notto escape! Attempt not to ask any one whom you may see to assist you! The result can only be disappointment! TFareweli!” With these words the colonel rose, and left the apart- ment. } He closed the door behind him. Instinctively and mechanically Bess turned towards it. She heard a key turned in the lock, and the sharp click- ing sound of the bolt as it shot into the socket. She was, indeed, a prisoner. And now she sunk into that strange, apathetic state which is sometimes produced by despair. The different objects wherewith she was surrounded faded from her view. She did not think—seemed scarcely to exist—and had only a dim consciousness of what had happened. That the drug she had taken in the wine had a great deal to do with producing the stupifying effect there can be no doubt; and it was assisted by the combination of all those other circumstances which we have a httle while back recapitulated. Whether she remained in this state five minutes or five hours she knew not, but she was aroused hv hearing the door unlocked. Tt was thrown open. Upon the threshold appeared @ woman of colossal di- mensions. With a swaggering stride this female crossed the room, and Eu her hand upon Bess’s shoulder. “ Get up, miss;” she said, in what sk., no doubt, in- tended to be a highly conciliatory tone of voice. ‘ Get up, and come into this room.” ‘*Spare me! spare me!” said the poor girl. “ Let me free! I beseech you, let me free! Have mercy upon me, and assist me to leave this hateful place!” “*Hush! hush! you must not speak so! Tho colonel has commanded me to attend to your every want—treat you with the utmost care, and made me responsible for your safe custody ; and when you know the colonel as well as I do, you will find it best not to palter with his com- mands!’ “Do not drive me to despair!” said Edgworth Bess. “Do not drive me to despair! Assist me to escape, and I will bless you !”’ As she spoke these words, in tones of supplicating an- guish, she sunk down upon her knees, and clasped the woman by the hand. in | ‘You will save me, will you not?” sheadded. “Surely | you can feel for my position! Help me, and save me!” The huge female shook her head. *You don’t know Colonel Thorne! What you ask of me is quite impossible! I dare not assist you to escape! I don’t want to be unkind to you, but I cannot assist you in any way.” ‘Alas! alas!” cried Edgworth Bess, as she let he head fall between her hands, and burst into tears: ** What will become of me? Jack! Jack! Where are you? You do not know in what peril Iam placed, or you would fly to aid and save me!” The huge female, although no one would have exactly thought it at first sight, possessed a warm and kindly heart, and compassioned the poor girl who pleaded to her. She endeavoured to utter some words of consolation, but Bess did not need them. “‘Hfow is he to know where I am?” she continued. < “Ido not even know myself! And how truly selfish I am! Hven now he may be in greater danger than I am; and what would he do? He would not call for assistance, when he saw assistance there was none; but he would act for himself. And I will do the same.” Edgworth Bess uttered these words aloud, but she was not conscious that she had done so until the woman said— ‘Let me advise you to abandon all hopes of making your escape from here. Itis impossible. ‘Too mauy pre- cautions have been taken for that, and so I say again, do not indulge in any such hopes, because they can only end in disappointment. You are weak and weary. I am told you are suffering from many wounds—let me assist you. n the next apartment you will find a bed, and every toi- lette necessary. Come with me.” . Passively Edgworth Bess allowed the woman to take her by the hand and lead her into the adjoining chamber, CHAPTER CXVITI. COLONEL THORNE APPEARS UNEXPECTEDLY TO EDG- WORTIL BESS, AND ATIEMPTS TO BEND UER TO HIS PURPOSE. WITH a faint, weary sigh, Edgeworth Bess, after asleep of many hours duration, awoke. A dull, roaring sound, to which she was uuable to make a comparison, reached her ears. What it was she had no idea. Never in the whole of her life had she heard anything resembling it. It was incessant, but not monotonous. Sometimes it would be as faint as a zephyr’s breath, and sometimes it would swell into a sound lke thunder. Ifer awakening could not at first strictly be called such, for slic was in the same dreanty, trance-like state as she had been upon her arriva!. But after a time, as she lay there in solitude and silence, she began slowly, and httle by little, to regain possession of her faculties. , In the same proportion as she did so, so did she feel etter. She raised herself presently upon one arm and gazed about her. All was still. There was no person either within sight or hearing. Then, with an accession of energy, prompied by the desperate nature of her situation, she rose and dressed herself. She was really astonished to find how strong she was, and by the time she had plentifully bathed her face with water, and drank copiously of the pure fluid, she felt al- most if not quite well. ‘“‘T will stay here no longer,” she said, with that air of resolution which goes so far towards accomplishing an object; “every moment serves to increase my peril and Jack’s uneasiness. I will show myself reliant upon my — powers, and it will go hard with me if I do not get ree, DOO 5}