Black Bess; or, The Knight of the Road — A Tale of the Good Old Times — page 174: what you’re looking at

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

aes a el BLUESKIN: a ROMANCE. , VA af er — While these thoughts passed through her mind, the} “It is useless!” he repeated, “ utterly useless! You poor, persecuted girl occupied herself in making an ex- | cannot escape. The doors are fast, and so are the windo»rs, amination of the bed-chamhcer. You are my prisoner, and wholly in my power!” Lbere were two doors opening from it. One was that through which she had passed, affording the means of communication between the bed-chamber and the outer apartment in which she had first been placed. This was the door she determined to trg first. It opened to her hand, and this she aecepted as an omen of future success. A small matter will at times makea remarkable and in- conceivable difference in the state of one’s mind; and shght and probable enough as was the cireumstance of her finding the door unfastened, yet it was with a more hopetul heart that she opened it and crossed the thres- old. In the outer, or sitting-room, as it micht be called, all things presented precisely the same appearance as they had done on the preceding evening when she first saw it. With a throbbing heart she hastened to the other door, but this she found secure, and fitting so closely into its setting, that not Ler whole strength could shake it in the east. To a certain extent she was prepared for this; never- theless she could not control a feeling of disappoint- ment. Subduing it, however, as much as she was able, she crossed the room in the direction of the windows. It will be remembered that at present she had not looked out of them, and now, when she did so, a cry of ppnize, shichtly mingled with pleasure, came from her ips. Before her, and stretching in every direction as far as her eye could reach, was the sea! Yes, there could be no doubt of that. She had never before gazed upon the ocean; indeed, from the manner in which she had lived and been brought up, knew little, if anything, about it; but, for all that, she instinctively re- cornized it, and knew what it was. The sun was shining with unusual brightness for the dull season of the year, and his beams fell upon the slightly-agitated water like myriads of diamonds. The two words which Bess uttered upon this unexpected sight being presented to her view will best describe its character. * How beautiful ! ” And now she gradually comprehended the sound for which she had found herself so completcly at a loss to account. It was the dashing of the sea against the shore. Lhe mansion—for such it was—was one of the largest, and built upon the summit of one of those tall white cliffs which make the shores of England so conspicuous to those approaching them from foreign lands. The sea was far below it, more so than it appeared to any one in the position of Edgworth Bess to be, but in reality the cliff was upwards of two hundred feet above the level of the water. The constant alteration of the restless tide had worn deep indeutations in the chalky rocks, and into these, the waves dashed with great fury, producing the deep hollow, roaring sound. For some minutes Edgworth Bess was so enchanted with the scene before Ler that she lost sight of the pur- pose for which she had in the first instance approached the window. But suddenly recollecting herself, she lifted her hand to try the fastenings. As she did so she was startled by a deep voice at her elbow, which said— ** Tt is useless!” Turning round suddenly she saw, standing close beside her, within arm’s length, her new and much-to-be-dreaded persecutor, Colone)] Thorne. The absolute terror which his unexpected and inex- plicable appearance produced, made the poor girl for a ininute or so speechless and motionless. See could only gaze with a horrified stare; upon his stern, implacable- looking countenance. Lhe colonel slowly, but siguifieantly shook his head, ‘And by what right am I your prisoner?” asked Eagworth Bess, recovering herself, and assuming, with difficulty, a manner altogether foreign to her nature. ‘““ Answer me. By what right am I your prisoner ?”’ These bold words, and, moreover, the bold manner in which she nttered them, caused her eyes to sparke, her cheeks to flush, and her whole frame to tremble. ‘“* Ha! ha!” That was the only repiy Colonel Thorne made to her question. It was a mocking laugh, and, as it came from his lips, he folded his arms, and looked, with a still more ludifi- catory expression, into her countenance. But Bess felt firmer. The reply she met did not, as might have been expected, dishearten her. “Tell me,” she said, ‘*as you are a man, and as I have a right to ask, why am I your prisoner? By what right ?’ “The right of power,’ replied the colonel, in his bass voice, which was not destitute of a peculiar melody of its own. “The right which the strong has over the weak. You are in my hands. I can do with you as I chonge, and there is nothing which can or shall step between ne and my desires.” Bess trembled. But ere she could command her voiee to speak, the colonel continued— “From the first moment that my eyes lighted upon your countenance, I loved you. I doso now, and in that fact discover, if you can, the motive, the mainspring of my conduct. I love you; not as nine-tenths of those who profess to feel the passion do, but with the ardency of my nature. I say 1 love you, and where my inclinations are concerned I allow nothing to step in between me and my desires. I am rich—wealthy beyond all your dreams of wealth—and, consequently, possessed of no ordinary amount of power, which I can wield as the humour takes me. You area prisoner. Seeure, beyond even the faint- est chance or probability of escape. Dismiss, therefore, that idea from your mind at once.” Every sentence which this speech contained, uttered as the whole was with extraordinary force, made Edgworth Bess feel as though a death knell had been struck to all her hopes of freedom. The confident manner of the colonel had its full effect. ‘You have heard my avowal,’ he said. ‘‘ It remains for you to think it over. You have your choice, either to comply with my wishes, and return my love, or compel me to use force. In the former case you shall be happy. Every want which you can frame shall be supplied almost ere you have given it utterance. I will do my utmost to show the love I bear you. But if, on the other hand— mark me—you know—I need not describe’”?—— ‘You need not,” cried Bess, passionately, “you need not. I love another. One who is as different to you as tempest 1s to calm—one to whom I will prove true under all circumstances, and through all time. The only senti- ment I have for you is loathing and abhorrence. What little good feeling there might have been in my heart for you, your behaviour to me has utterly extinguished, and I would rather die a hundred—nay, a thousand—times, than consent to be the thing you wish to make me.” The appearance of the poor girl, as she thus spoke, was truly majestical and beautiful. But that of the colonel was of the most deadly and un. governable rage. To be thus bearded by a girl was what he would never suffer. He who had been accustomed to see the rudest men bow down before him, and instantly obey his shghtest wish. ‘*Rash girl’” he cried, his voice almost choked with rage. ‘* You shall repent of this, and when it is too late, you will wish you had treated me with more considera. tion rou have made your choice, and you must abide by it ! YAn awful scream burst from the lips of Edgworth Bess, as the Colonel, while speaking these last words, suddenly darted forward, and clasped her in Lis arms. ’ . <a et REP GP a Np IE SE TERE ET Bi MICOOOKS.CO (S@) Cc im