Angelina: Or, The Mystery of St. Mark's Abbey

ANGELINA; or, The Mystery of St. Mark's Abbey

A serialized Gothic romance by Thomas Prest, originally published in The Penny Sunday Times and People's Police Gazette and collected here in 1841. Two peasant girls, cousins Angelina and Laura, visit the ruins of St. Mark's Abbey despite warnings of hauntings and robbers. Sheltering from a violent thunderstorm inside, they encounter a ghostly female figure in white, bearing a wand and a blazing star on her forehead. The apparition fixes its unearthly gaze upon Angelina and speaks, commanding her to approach. Laura faints; Angelina, gathering courage, demands to know the figure's identity. The narrative establishes a mystery centered on Angelina's origins—her parents died in infancy and she was raised by her uncle, a humble but honest cottager. The figure's supernatural appearance masks an unresolved earthly secret.