Ivan the Terrible; or, Dark Deeds of Night — page 219: what you’re looking at

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

: ) IVAN THE __ §o saying, the two Forgers went from the pl PvE ace, and bent their footsteps towards aria shop. ax od 3 : os ey as might be expected, was intensely excited _ while crouching in his dan, erons hiding-place ; but when'the Mester left the spot ho her/>1 a sigh and felt much re- ee He did not know how t- © scéed, but still determined, if cate to secur. «:.'! ). = Tyan single-handed, if eyen he § Penis attemp.. , _ While revolving many plans in his mind, Frank wa i pried and excited. R roaity Baia jtetzoae _ He heard footsteps approaching along the passage way, and “ before he could fly from the spot, the door Senbat if _ Frank crouched‘into a corner, ‘Two men came forth, — __ a . | , scoundrele, dark, revengeful, and remorseless - looking a ; i Are all things prepared ?” one asked, s'Yes,” y “ Why did you not leave the room before ?” ; wi ep did you not hear two of them conyersing beneath the - Windo Sen. bg _ “Well, what of that, they would never t anything.” You don’t know that : z es abt : moment too soon.” “es Suppose I had, what then?” *: _ “They might have entered, and if we had been discovered parame haye been lost,” ' . , “ eo ae mind talking of that. Is the girlready ?” _ “And in a deep sleep ?” Ree a a “What time is Sir Humphrey expected here ?” _ Within an hour,” pe AE “How much does he promise for the job?” “Four hundred pounds, so he says,” “Well, and little enough, I think, considering what trouble | e have about her. . Who is she?” . _“The sheriff's daughter, and as pretty a girl as ever you + clapped eyes upon.” _ “How did you manage to secure her ?”’ ! _*“She was walking in the Temple Gardens, towardsme, I waited in ambush, according to Sir Hnmphrey’s directions, and seized her unexpectedly.” _‘ Did she resist ?” . Os AV.bat panld & girl lake sue do against me ?”’ he said, laugh- ing, .““I gagged her, put her into my boat, and pulled awa ‘to the owas fast cn could.” . a jag bre Sema : _- “Sir Humphrey has long had his eyes upon that girl.” “T know he has, and so has samebody else that you know.” “Indeed.” : “Why, of course.” _“Who is it? , Would he give as much for her?” "No, not he, Ivan expects that we must go and do any- suppose you had opened the door a TERRIBLE. 215 thing he commands for nothing ; but Jam not going to do 80.” ‘‘But what if he knew it?” “ Knew it?” said the other, alarmed ; “but how should he know it? Surely you would not——” ‘“Me! Lor’ | you needn’t look so frightened, ZT am not going to say a word, only if he did hear of it, you know, e——’ ““Yes, I know what he would do, he would demand £1,000 from Sir Humphrey for his pleasure, and then get the reward—another £1,000—which the sheriff, I hear, has al- ready offered for her recovery.” “Yes; and out of the whole sum he would not give us a shilling,” “Just so. Lam not going to work for such a master any more than I can help, I can tell you.” ‘© No, nor I,” was the answer. ‘* Shall we go?” “Yeés; [think itis time. I promised to call on Sir Hum- phrey at a certain hour, to inform him that all was ready ; he is in waiting for me at an appointed rendezvous in the ‘ Forge,’ where we shall see him, if we do not miss him on the way.” * And in that case——”’ ‘Oh! we are sure of our money, you needn’t fear on that point, for that has been paid over to a friend of ours for two days or more, Then if we miss him——” “Tf we do, it won’t be of much consequence. He is all im- patient to gratify his passion, The maiden looks as lovely as an angel, and is unconscious from drugs, I dare say, if we are behind our time, Sir Humphrey will call, and let himself into the house by the garden gate with a key I gave him. ‘Thus speaking, the two villains left the spot, and Frank Maberly was astounded at what he heard, The door was ajar. He immediately entered the passage, and: closed the door behind him. He was fastening the drag chain to make it more secure, and had placed one foot on the stairs to ascend up to the first floor, where Minnie the sheriff's daughter was lying ina state of stupor, when the garden gate was opened, He listened. “. In a moment the back room door was opened, and he heard the footsteps of a man ascending the stairs, and could distin- guish the clink of his spurs and sword |! Frank opened the door of the first floor, and glided beneath a gorgeous bed, on which the helpless maiden lay just at the moment when Sir Humphrey entered the apartment, and stood at the chamber-door, gazing with admiration at Minnie, the sleeping beauty. “ She is mine !” he said, in tones of guilty rapture, then locked the door. (Zo be continued.) and THE PRINCE AND THE FISHERMAN. / - (Continued from page 208.) — Nevertheless, endeavouring to master his emotion, he fired a second time, and the ball, whistling past the fisherman, _ buried itself in the trunk of a poplar. _ With the energy of despair he then siezed the barrel of the gun in both hands, but Gabriel advanced, terribly prepared for the conflict, with his hatchet; and, with the first stroke, he cut the butt-end from the gun. He hesitated, bowever, to slay a defenceless man ; but at ‘theend ot th two armed attendants of the prince appeared at nd of the road. Gabricl bad not seen their, approach; but when the two traitors had almost reached him, Solomon uttered a cry of -larm, and hastened to the aid of his son. | ‘ _ “Here, Numa! Help, Bonaroux !” shouted the prince. “Death to the brigands! They wish to assassinate me |” A «“ You lie, Prince of Brancaleone !” retorted Gabriel, and, with one blow of his hatchet, he clove his adversary’s skull. The two bravoes, seeing their employer fall, took to speedy flight, and Solomon and his son went upto the chamber of Nisida. : | The young girl was just waking from her deep sleep; her brow was covered with perspiration, and she slowly opened 8, . . oe Why do you look upon me thus, father ?” said she, wildly, and passing her hand across her forehead, wea “You have escaped a great danger, my poor Nisida, he replied. ‘Rise, and let us return thanks to the Madonna.” Accordingly, the fisherman and his children, prostrating themselves before the holy image of the Virgin, began to recite the litany. COMMEOOKS. COMM