The Mission of Poubalov — page 230: what you’re looking at

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

226 POUBALOV SUCCEEDS, clutching the jamb, she made certain that the flee i vision of surprise and disappointment was bitter adi . amazing reality. The man bound upon the chair was a ’ Dexter. ) He turned upon her his blinking eyes, rendered sighhl less for the moment by the mild glare of the candle flame, — He could stir no other part of his body by so much as a hair’s breadth. A long rope was coiled many times about — him, binding his legs to the chair rungs, his arms to his side, and his head to the back of thechair. A pitiful — groan gurgled again in his throat as Clara held up the - candle and looked at him. 4 She stood thus not longer than a second, and then, hae ing placed the candle in a cup that stood on the mantel, — she sought to loose him. That he was concerned in some — way with Ivan’s disappearance she could not doubt, but she allowed herself no thought or hesitation on that account. His evident suffering appealed to her, and she plied her fingers hard and fast to undo the rope. The — knot was at his back and it had not been drawn extremely — taut, the numerous coils in themselves being almost suffi- 4 cient to hold the prisoner in his place. Very shortly, — therefore, she had the free ends of the rope in hand, and © she unwound them from Dexter’s arms, still standing — behind his back and working above his head. When with his own hands he began to loose the coils from his lower limbs, she untied the handkerchief that held the gag in his mouth, and Dexter was free. " He arose trembling. His limbs were stiff with long con- — straint and he steadied himself by grasping the backof the — chair and leaning upon it. Breathing heavily and mut- — tering unintelligible curses he turned slowly about and \“ peered into Clara’s eyes. ‘‘Ha!’’ he gasped, ‘‘it’s you, is it!’’ o His eyes, till then glowing with the rage of a baffled will, now flamed with ungovernable hate. Clara, all her resolution gone, her very life seeming to depart from her, yet stood ready to do what she could to ‘hook