Penny Blood Serial Cover — page 159: what you’re looking at

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

ALFRED DE ROSANN. L5l grazing : here the green tobacco-plant occupied wide acres with its somniferous leaves — there incipient crops of corn, gracefully waving to the gentle breeze, were preparing for the destructive hand of the mower™ —on one side were thick groves of trees—on the other vineyards, soon to teem with heavy bunches of ripe grapes. All was one vast garden: scarcely a foot of earth, save the beaten pathways, was unoccupied by some flourishing fruit, vegetable, plant, or flower; there was no waste of land that the eye could detect. Belle-Rose and De Rosann often stopped to contem- plate the surrounding beauties of nature; they were not in a hurry to arrive at the proposed end of their journey; they had much more time before them than was necessary to complete the distance to which their march of that day was toextend; and they were both-too glad to breathe the fresh air of the country, instead of the close atmosphere of a gaol, to deny themselves the pleasure of dwelling ona fine prospect and lovely scenery. It was not till nearly ten o’clock in the evening that they arrived within three or four miles of St. Malo. The innumerable lights of the town resem- bled the reflection of countless planets in a deep ocean; and our travellers hailed their vicinity as an assurance of safety,and a guarantee of success. ‘They looked around them to discover a cottage, or isolated dwelling, where they might repose till morning; and the sharp eye of Belle-Rose soon distinguished a glimmering light at a little distance. hither they bent their steps; and a quarter of an hour brought them toa large farm-house, whose antique gables and quaint architecture were visible beneath the rays of the moon that now emerged from behind the dusky vapours of night. A high railing surrounded the old building; and when De Rosann agitated the gate, which was carefully locked, the loud barking of a dog within the * In France the crops of grain are not cut down with a sickle, but with a scythe. COMMICLOCKKS. EO