Penny Blood Serial Cover — page 74: what you’re looking at

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

66 ALFRED DE ROSANN. sure of the arcana of his late kitchen. “ A dearer woman never entered a larder, nor served win ordi- naire at thirty sous instead of seven-franc Bor- deaux!’’ At this moment a terrible noise was heard at the entrance of the barn that looked into. a field adjoining the road, and half-a-dozen cows, impelled from their pasturage by the violence of the storm, and instinctive- ly seeking the shed in which they were penned up at night, rushed amongst the convicts and the Gendarmes in a manner the most unceremonious. An universal shout on the part of the besieged, at this rude attack, terrified the intrusive animals; and Champignon, who stood foremost, was overthrown in a heap of manure. His wig fell off; and in stretching out his hand to re- cover it, he caught hold of one of the cows’ tails, and was dragged several paces before he would relinquish his grasp, so perfectly was he overcome by fear as to be convinced in his own mind that he held his wig. The convict, who was chained to Champignon, was dragged forward with him, as the fetters that attached them together were not of an extraordinary length. The retreat of the cows at last restored order; and Champignon’s wig, discovered amidst the same dirt into which he himself had fallen, was restored in statu quo to its owner’s head by the hand of Belle- Rose, while a hearty laugh at the appearance of the ex-restaurateur, who was disguised in filth that even clung to his perrwque, resounded from every indivi- dual present save himself and De Rosann. “ Never mind,’’ exclaimed Belle-Rose in a conso- latory tone of voice; “the rain will wash it all off again.’” “That’s true,’ returned Champignon with a horri- ble grimace; “but at present I feel like a perdrizx aux choux.”’ | In about a quarter of an hour the clouds cleared partially away from the face of heaven—the sun broke through the opening vapours—and the Gen- darmes once more put their prisoners in motion. A Comicbooksicoim