Penny Dreadfuls, 1866 · page 197 of 276
Ivan the Terrible; or, Dark Deeds of Night — page 197: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Victorian Penny Dreadful Page Analysis This page contains both an engraving illustration and serialized prose narrative from "Ivan the Terrible; or, Dark Deeds of Night" (Chapter XCI, continued). The illustration, captioned "The Conspiracy Overheard," depicts three figures in period dress meeting furtively near a large tree at night. The text describes a woman named Leonora attempting to escape her captor, a man called Dreadnought (or "the Sorcerer"), by secretly descending a creaking staircase to deliver a hidden message requesting rescue. The passage emphasizes suspense and danger, culminating in the staircase noise alerting her captor to her presence.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ILVAN THE OR, DARK DEE DS OF NIGHT. TERRE Hit ay \ = = HTT f at ' THE CONSPIRACY OVERHEARD. CHAPTER XCI—(continued.) His guilty soul was not proof against all the attacks of an outraged conscience. - What noise was that?” he whispered. gir ah And he called her name, though in low tones. In order to explain how the noise was produced we must follow Leonora to the secresy of her chamber, whither she repaired as soon as she could leave her grim gaoler. As soon as she was in the privacy of her own room, she burst into tears, although she soon dashed them away as the necessity forinstant action and self-possession flashed across her brain. “ My promise not to attempt escape is not binding. Imay act as I think fit,” she thought to herself, and forthwith in- scribed the following words on a slip of paper :— “To Nat Fathom at the ‘Green Man.’—I am betrayed. Seek me in & lonely house by the river side near Ohelsea.”” She placed her initials at the bottom of this document, con- cealed it in the folds of her dress,.and then after fervently commending herself to Heaven, began with cautious footsteps to descend the staircase. i The gr eat object and the great difficulty to be overcome was No. 209. “Tt must be the to pass the door of the room in which Dreadnought was without disturbing him or attracting his attention. But this she soon found was a matter of difficulty, for the old staircase was so dilapidated that it creaked and groaned beneath the slightest weight. However, she hoped to be able to succeed by means of ‘bearing as much of her weight as possible on the handrail. She slowly descended till she reached the landing where was the door of the room in which her gaoler was. It was a trial of the nerves by no means to be despised to pass that door, and she fancied that her strength would give way and she would be discovered. The hope of escape, however, made her too brave to be vanquished by fears of personal danger. Cautiously creeping along she reached the door ; the voice of the man who thus imprisoned her sounded on her ear as ke muttered to himself. She listened and heard him speak of ghosts that haunted the cottage. She was upon the flight of stairs leading to the basement when the enfeebled structure creaked beneath her weight, and there it was that the Sorcerer, heard the sounds which s0 much alarmed him on the firs instant, and now alarmed him REE: 5 an Gomilchbooksraeom