Penny Blood Serial Cover — page 174: what you’re looking at

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

166 ALFRED DE ROSANN. Rosann was equal to that of his companions when they first respectively saw the young man, whom they deemed to be shackled in an ignominious gaol ; but his joy equalled his astonishment, and he ad- dressed a few words of kindness to our hero in the most affectionate manner. Eloise inwardly thanked the good man who had exemplified so unequivocal a proof of his regard for her and her lover ; and she sighed heavily when she thought of the different wel- come Alfred had received from her mother. Arrived with difficulty in the court-yard, Mrs. Clayton was conducted to the out-house, where the farmer’s wife already lay on a bed hastily contrived of mattresses, &c., as those objects were saved piece- meal from the ravages of the fire. It was a species of barn, in which the ladies were fain to take refuge ; and being situate ata little distance from the house, there was no danger of the flames communicating to its roof, which was composed of thatched straw, as is usual with buildings of the kind. Eloise did all she possibly could to console her suf- fering parent, while De Rosann joined Belle-Rose and Dorval in their herculean task of removing the furni- ture from the burning house to the extremity of the enclosure, so that the falling firebrands might not reach any inflammable matter. Mr. Clayton aided the servant in securing the frunks and goods which had been brought from the carriage and transported to the apartments whence himself and the ladies were now exiled by the conflagration. Meantime the fire had rapidly increased, and a great portion of the roof had already fallen.in. The red flames emitted volumes of black smoke, pieces of © burning wood fell in all directions, and the progress of the destructive element resembled the sound of a distant tide flowing in on a beachy shore without the occasional intervals caused by the reacting ebb. The countenances of those who laboured hard to save the effects of the unfortunate Louis Dorval, were rendered hideous by the glare of yellow light that gave an un- CORMICGLOOKS. GO) 3