Penny Blood Serial Cover — page 168: what you’re looking at

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

160 ALFRED DE ROSANN. tion, and a feeling of delight, that he could not ac- count for. | His first impulse was to sit down and decy pher one of the letters, for such the documents proved to be: . but at that moment a voice within him appeared to ask, “ If he were justified in perusing those papers, and in retaining possession of them? Was he cer- tain no relative to the deceased marquis still existed? and if there were any surviving scions of the ancient family, would it not be a robbery to withhold deeds that were perhaps important??? ‘These reflections made De Rosann hesitate; and then the fear that Belle- Rose might awake and suspect the nature of his occu- pation, determined him to refrain from satisfying his curiosity, at least for the present. He accordingly divided the papers into two or three parcels, concealed them about his person, and carefully burnt the parch- ment which had enveloped them, as well as a few scraps where the writing was totally illegible, or where there had never been any. No sooner had De Rosann concluded this arrange- ment, than a strange suspicion entered his mind that Belle-Rose was not asleep. . He gently approached the bed, and gazed upon the features of his compa- nion; but not the slightest evidence appeared to sup- port the supposition. Belle-Rose slumbered tranquilly on his pillow—De Rosann coughed: somewhat loudly —and the noise produced no effect. Our hero accord- ingly retreated towards his own couch, satisfied that Belle-Rose did not feign the deep sleep in which he was apparently wrapped. And now a long train of reflections was again awakened in the mind of De Rosann. Two circum- stances appeared to exercise a-vast influence over his future fortunes. The documents he had just possessed himself of, and the secret service in which he was en- gaged, were the arbiters of his destiny. But what was that secret service? who was Leblond? and where were the all-seeing, the omniscient powers he was engaged to serve? In the .most civilized country on *s CORMICLOOKS.EO)