Black Bess; or, The Knight of the Road — A Tale of the Good Old Times — page 175: what you’re looking at

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

eRe eet agg TE EDEL FOS TT ES RE at PLUESKIN : Queer conse CHAPTER CXIX. COLONEL THORNE’S CONDUCT BECOMES MYSTERIOUS, VAINLY did she struggle and implore for succonr. In his hands she was but a feather in those of a child, and, alas! there was none near to hear her cries who would obey her summons for assistance. Such a sensation of deadly sickness came over her, that she was deprived of what little strength she had. Her head swam round. Her eyes dimmed, She lost all power of using her voice, and sank upon her kness. ‘‘Now do you believe you are in my power! ”’ cried the colonel, hoarsely. ‘‘ What is there to step in between us? All your frantic cries have met with no response. All zou struggles have only served to show your weakness. ut I am unwilling to master you thus. I love you, and would fain win back your love in return. Say, will you give me hope?” ‘* Never !” ‘Then you shall rue your refusal. I will let you know, girl, that I am one in command! [ have beneath me, and subsistent to my shghtest wish, fiercer and more un- tameable spirits than yours. Reflect! Surely itcan need no reflection! or, if you think so, I will give you a few hours for the consideration of my offer.” ‘* Tt is useless.” Such were the words that rose to the lips of Edgeworth Bess, but see took a rapid second thought, and did not utter them. If she put him off, she would gain time, and time to her might be life, escape, everything. *‘ Leave me, then!” she said, instead. and I will try to reconcile myself to my lot.” “Ts it possible that you consent? That you give me room to hope that I may hope to win you for my own? Ha! confusion! curses!’ The sudden exclamations that came from the hps of Colonel Thorne proceeded apparently from a very simple cause, and, at all events, it would have been thought from one totally inadequate to produce such an effect. What was the cause P All that Bess heard was a clock strike the hour of three. The sound appeared to come from overhead. But why should such a scemingly simple and natural occurrence produce the effect it did ? She was lost in conjecture. She fixed her eyes earnestly upon her persecutor. He had released her hands from the hold he had taken of them, and drawn himself up to his full height. He stood in the attitude of one who expected to hear ** Leave me, ore. Nor had he long to wait, for again the clock proclaimed the hour of three. This was mysterious and remarkable. What could it mean ? She had thought before, not only from the colonel’s manner, but from the time she imagined it was, that the clock had not pealed forth the proper hour. And now she could hardly think it was a clock at all, for certainly no clock would strike the same hour twice in succession, and with an interval of about 2 moment only. What could it mean ?P Again the clock struck. , The colonel seemed much agitated. *°T will leave you!’’ he said. “I will leave you! Consider well all that I have said! Do not allow yourself to be led away by any hopes of getting free! Once for all, and all for once, I tell you itisimpossible! I must leave you now!” he repeated. ‘“* But look, what is that yonder P ”’ He pointed through the window, as he spoke. With a natural instinct, Edgworth Bess looked imme- diately in the direction in which he pointed. There was nothing but the bright blue sea before her. Then she heard the door leading into the room in which she had passed the night shut violently. With a boldness, for which no one would have given her credit, she ran across the room, and, turning the handle ef the door, opened it, for it was not secured in any way. . Bat when she entered the bedroom, although not a el a SE ID | ES ES TEI OTE, 173 A ROMANCE. moment elapsed from the time she heard the door slammed, no living creature could be seen. She looked round twice or thrice, but all was undis- turbed, and just as she had left, nor was there any trace which would lead one to suppose that it had been recently entered. Bewildered and alarmed, Bess sank down into a chair, and, clasping her hands tightly about her head, strove to calm her mind, and think dispassionately of the occur- rences of the last two or three hours. She found the task a difficult one. ‘* How came he to enter here so silently and unperceived as he did P?”’ she asked herself; ‘‘ for when he spoke be- hind me I had no idea of his presence; and, then, how did he leave? His pointing to the window was only a device to conceal the means by which he departed. And why did he slam the door? Was that to mislead mo againP I must think—I must think.” For a long while Edgworth Bess remained in deep meditation, and then she rose to her feet. There was an air of decision about her which she had not previously displayed. “¢ T will make a careful examination of this place,’ she said. ‘*I have good grounds for doing so. I feel con- vinced there are some other means of leaving these apart- ments than by the strong and firmly-fastened door through which I was brought. No doubt this other door—if door it is—depends entirely upou its secrecy for its security. So I will be diligent, and search.” She was impelled to do this with all the greater expedi- tion, for she feund, from the decreased amount of hght that came into the room, that night was fast approaching. Therefore, what she had to do, it .behoved her to do quickly. Returning to the outer room, tn which she had had her terrible interview with Colonel Thorne, she made a minute examination of every part of it. But all her trouble met with no reward. She was unable to find anything likea secret means of ingress or egress, and so, with the utmost reluctance, she passed into the bed-chamber, and made arigid examination of that also. Floor, walls, and every part was scrutinized with a minuteness that one would have thonght more than suffi- cient to cause the discovery of the most cunningly-con- trived hiding-place, but alas! for her hopes of escape, the result was just the same. And now she came to that other door in her bedroom which she had several times seen, but through which she had never attempted to penetrate. Her hand trembled, and her heart palpitated as she turned the knob. Somewhat to her surprise, she found it give way before her touch. She flung the door wide open. But she did not venture to cross the threshold until she had first taken a glance at its interior. In the first place, there did not seem to be so much light in this room as there was in the three others. And such was indeed the case, for it was smaller in size, and there was but one window. The day, too, was still declining, which made it all the more manifest. But, whatever might have been the mysteries of that reom, Edgworth Bess was not yet destined to explore them. For one thing there was not light enough to enable her to properly examine it, and, just as she was about to enter it, the ontermost door opened. In a,moment she sprang forward to see who 1t was. It was the huge female. She carried in her hand a small tray, upon which a tempting repast was laid. This she placed upon the table. Bess looked at the viands wistfully. It was a long, long time since she had tasted food, and she felt faint and sick in consequence. Whoever the woman might be, and however repulsive her outward form might appear to be, she had a tender heart, and, had it not been for the terror in which she stood of Colonel Thorne, she would certainly have assisted our heroine to escape. , As it was, she could not bear to hear her supplications for aid and help, They cut her to the heart, and so she w ro GOnnlGoaoo CC S (SO) 5}