Ivan the Terrible; or, Dark Deeds of Night — page 72: what you’re looking at

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

68 IVAN THE CHAPTER XXXVI. IVAN’S CAREER AFTER THE MIDNIGHT STORM AND SHIP- WRECK—TERRIBLE VISIONS BY NIGHT AND DAY—LADY LAURA MOURNS THE DEATH OF HARRY PERCY—IVAN SEEKS REVENGE ON JESSIE—THE MEETING IN THE CASTLE CHAPEL—THE DEADLY BLOW — UNEXPECTED AID—SUDDEN APPEARANCE OF THE MAN OF MYSTERY. THE sudden and disastrous wreck of the ship that had borne Harry and Darby seemed to have turned the heads of both Laura and her father. Jessie the gipsy girl told the earl her suspicions that the ill-fated craft had been enticed on the treacherous rocks through the cunning malice of Ivan and the sorcerer Dread- | nought. When young Edward, however, Harry’s little brother, also told his astonished parent the story of his abduction from the castle and narrow escape from Ivan the Terrible and the Sorcerer in the ruins of the old abbey, the earl seemed as- tounded, Timid with age, and tossed and turned with state disputes, the earl determined to fly to London far from danger from Ivan’s remorseless band, in hopes of laying his complaints and grievances before the king, and, if possible, to obtain some intelligence of his beloved and lost son Harry. It was well that the earl did resolve to leave Cornwall for a time, for Ivan had tracked Jessie to the Castle, and dis- covered who she was, and her position in the noble household, Furious as a demon, he raved and stormed for whole days up and down the rugged coast, haranguing his followers, and vowing vengeance on Jessie’s head, for, in his fury, he laid his own brother’s death upon her head. His imagination still recalled vividly to mind the recollec- tions of that stormy, tempestuous night. He saw in his dreams, whether sleeping or waking, the vivid lightning, and heard the loud detonating, earth-shaking thunder. The storm winds whistled through his fiery brain ; he saw the white-crested, storm-laden waves rolling mountains high with a dull roar upon the rock-bound coast, The doomed ship striking high among the roaring breakers, the crush, the booming of signal guns. All this he saw passing through his seared and crime-crossed soul. That single motionless form washed high upon the shingly shore, breathed again before his eyes. He heard its inarticulate whispers, and felt again the throbbing of its almost lifeless heart. The fatal axe was raised ! He heard it crash into his own brother’s brain. The shrill, triumphant laugh of the gipsy girl rung in his ears louder than the loudest thunder, and he vowed in his guilty soul never to rest again in peace and quiet until he | imbrewed his brawny hands in Jessie’s blood. Rash was the vow he made. Yet well nigh did he accomplish it. The knife was sharp! its edge had been ground with care, and Ivan’s eyes glittered again with fiendish triumph as he felt its sharp edge and hugged his soul with thoughts of keen revenge. Ivan had heard of Earl Percy’s intention to return to London, but the week, or day, or hour, he knew not. He and his followers narrowly watched all the castle approaches, and, bolder than the rest, Ivan climbed the walls, and secreted himself for days in the hope of suddenly falling upon Jessie, and ruthlessly slaying her. The thoughts of young Harry’s death in that frightful shipwreck caused Lady Laura many bitter tears, She loved Harry with an affection even stronger than a sister’s, and wept and sighed in vain at his supposed death. Pleasure, she had none. She might walk and ride; music, dancing, and study had lost their wonted charms; and her favourite walks through the castle grounds and park were now engaged no more. When Ivan, therefore, discovered, in the course of two or TERRIBLE. 7 three days’ strict watch, that Lady Laura did not take out door exercise as usual, his rage was increased tenfold against Jessie the gipsy, for he thought it was all through her advice that Lady Laura had closetted herself more than was her wont. Not to be disappointed in his keen revenge, he forcibly made an entrance into the castle, and dogged Lady Laura’s footsteps like some attendant shadow. It mattered but little whither she went, there also Ivan found means to be, yet she was never unattended by one or © more old and faithful retainers, whom Ivan did not choose to encounter, in case the struggle that would surely ensue might disturb and arouse the numerous well-armed inmates of Percy Castle. It was on Jessie he desired to wreak his bitter hatred and revenge. She alone, therefore, was the object of his fiendish search, He had not to wait long ere he had his opportunity. Filled with intense sorrow for young Harry’s supposed demise, Lady Laura would frequently visit the old castle chapel, and there, in deep meditation, stroll among its many tombs of departed knights and lords, whose figures, in stone, were numerous, costly, and grand. Here it was her wont to stray towards even-tide, and as the ~ sun’s last rays tinged the western window with a golden glow — of reddish light, would she point out to her faithful Jessie the name and fame first of this learned lord, and then of that famed knight who had shed lustre and undying fame upon the name of Percy. Hours would she pass thus, occupied in moody, cheerless meditation and grieving for the early demise of Harry theyoung ~ and promising descendant of a long and noble line. Ivan, cunning, crafty, and plotting as he always had been, was not many hours in the castle ere he discovered Lady Laura’s favorite haunt. She always went thither unattended save by Jessie, and there he resolved to conceal himself. One whole night he hid himself in that sacred place, among the monuments and tombs. The morning dawned and time passed wearily by. He thought that sunset would never come, yet as he per- — ceived the approach of closing day, he gnashed his teeth im — savage satisfaction and screened himself from view behind an old, massive, and ancient tomb. Distant footsteps were heard approaching the chapel, butso — faint were they that he listened and scarce could feel certain — of it. | His heart beat with wild passions as he peeped from his — hiding-place and perceived the entrance of Lady Laura and — her faithful Jessie. They strolled about for some time in whispered conversation among the grim and inspiring monuments and tombs. Ivan, with noiseless step and dagger drawn, crept towards — where they stood at the foot of a knight’s grave, His eyes glistened with intense ferocity, when suddenly with a wild oath, he darted towards Jessie, and, ere she could utter an exclamation of fear or surprise, he plunged his dagger into her side. | ‘Ha! ha!” he exclaimed, as Jessie fell bleeding and helpless on the pavement, “ who triumphs now? Ha! ha! thoughtye to escape Ivan’s vengeance? No, no, gipsy wench, night or day my aim is true; writhe in your death agony, Laura 1s mine |” With a fiendish laugh, he gazed for a moment on the bleeding girl, but perceived not that Lady Laura had fainted at the sickening sight, and had sunk to the earth. With the blood-stained dagger high above his head, he shrieked and raved in intoxication of madness, and lifted Laura from the ground, and carrying her away in triumph, he savagely cursed and swore, “Mine ! mine! at last ! Ha! ha! mine !” “ Down villain, down !” roared the voice of one near, who with'upraised sword, struck Ivan to the earth. He was masked and disguised from head to It was the Man of Mystere(o)[Apj[iCe OOKS;cOmM