The Works of George W. M. Reynolds — page 152: what you’re looking at

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

-UNPLEASANT VISITORS 135 one of the armchairs. But scarcely had he dropped his person upon the voluptuous-looking cushion when a sharp click, like a clock giving warning, struck his startled ear; and at the same instant his wrists were caught in the manacles and his shoulders were fast griped by the strong steel bands that sprang forth from the woodwork of the treacherous chair. “Perdition! ”’ ejaculated the Hangman, with a desperate struggle to release himself. But his efforts would not have been more vain or futile had a tremendous boa-constrictor suddenly wound its mas- sive coils around him; the manacles were immovable, the steel bands held his shoulders in an inextricable gripe, and the very chair itself was solidly fastened by the legs to the floor. Finding that his endeavours were useless, and exhausted by their unavailing strenuousness, the Hangman suddenly desisted from any further struggling with the treacherous chair and its potent mechanism; and as a subdued impreca- tion fell from his lips, the chill sweat of profound terror burst forth all over him, saturating his very garments and making his shirt cling to him like the cold, clammy grave-clothes of the dead. COMNICLOO© ‘Ss (C(O)