The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 281: what you’re looking at

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

246 THE COURT OF LONDON which had already influenced her on this eventful evening once more impelled her to approach the object of her at- tention; and observing that the case had a door hung on hinges and fastened. by means of a small latch, she was prompted to open it. The door swung back; but no pen can describe the terror which seized upon the young woman when the bleached bones of a skeleton were suddenly revealed to her view. The pouetemnation which fell upon her stifled the ery that rose to her lips; and for nearly a minute she was held, as it were, motionless, petrified, statue-like, and yet with her very flesh creeping. Horror seized upon her brain. The effect was as if the Medusa’s head had thus abruptly met her eyes, turning her to stone. While this appalling influence lasted, by no human effort could she have averted her gaze from the anatomy; a supernal power appeared to rivet her looks on the whitened skeleton! And that skeleton! It appeared to be standing upright in its case, for it was fastened by the head to the top thereof; its long fingers were slightly bent, its toes pointed down- ward. It seemed to grin horribly with its two rows of white and perfect teeth, and Caroline thought that with its eyeless sockets it looked with a stony and deathlike gaze upon her. At the same moment that this appalling spectacle was displayed to her view, — appalling we say, considering her state of mind,—the wind came roaring, rushing, and bellowing down upon the house with such fury that it shook to its very foundation; and for an instant the thought flashed to the girl’s imagination that the day of judgment was at hand. A draught swept through the chamber in spite of the well-closed windows with their shutters inside and their large wooden shades without, — for this room looked into the street,— and, agitated by that piercing, penetrating cust, the herbs rustled against the wall like the garments of some being approaching the young woman from behind, and the bones rattled slightly in the upright box. A vertigo seized upon the unfortunate Caroline; and, staggering back, — but uttering no cry, for her lips were sealed by the feeling that was now passing over her, — she sank on a chair that happened to stand near. Wildly she CORNICLAOO