Her Royal Lover: A Novel — page 282: what you’re looking at

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

274 WER ROYAL LOVER. own ears. Indeed, what difference did it make to her to go or to come? to remain here, or to advance there? She followed the men, who renewed their march. In this dark night the sky permitted no other scin- tillation to pierce than here and there, the refiec- tion of a light through the black and heavy mass of clouds. All was disorder diffused. It seemed that they heard the breath of phantoms and of specters running near the vehicle, the croaking of malevo- lent birds in the air, and that, striding the winds, the hydras of the Apocalypse were fiving, announc- ing the last hour of the world. Suddenly, a strange thing, a phosphorescence in- vaded the sky. In this mountainous country nature is filled with phenomenons, explicable through elec- tricity which can alone produce them. Glascha, frightened, made anew the sign of the cross. “Madame la Princess, look—look there!” said she, pointing to the horizon. There, almost grazing this phosphorescence, at a certain moment a long black file of birds of passage crossed the heavens. Then, as if they had breathed upon the light, it was suddenly extinguished. Madame de Mineleko started; it was a flight of ravens, birds of ill-omen, whose presence always announced new misfortunes. Then, a great gust of wind arose; then, swelling, it became furious, tear- ing the earth up suddenly, and whirling in the air all that which it encountered like a fantastic whirl- wind, Fear, bordering on insanity, was increasing more and more in the heart of Glascha. “Holy Virgin of mercy! have pity on us! If we had only arrived to the end of our journey!” said she, while constantly signing herself with the cross. GEomichbooks.co m