The Curse Upon Mitre Square — page 27: what you’re looking at

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

THE STOLEN MEETING. 19 to him. The monks were generally together when in church; one hour a week, however, each spent in solitary prayer before the altar, and the woman when she discovered this resolved to note the hour and wait till Martin’s turn came, and thus obtain an interview. She found, in addition, that these hours for solitary prayer were fixed, that is to say, each monk knew beforehand when his time would come to betake himself to the church to offer up his devo- tions before the high altar. Six times did the .woman enter the chureh to be disappointed, but on the seventh she was more fortunate, and saw Martin in the sanctuary alone, but to her dismay a few people remained in the church and frustrated her design. And after waiting patiently for an hour, longing for them to depart, she saw the neophyte go back into the monastery, and thus again was she foiled in her purpose. ~ For a week the church was free from her evil presence, but in the following week, on the same day and the same hour, she betook herself to the place of quest, confident now of ultimate success. It was late in the evening, nearly eight o’clock and quite dark, but the woman needed no light. She knew her way as well as the most saintly of worshippers, and as she approached the church, the moon, which had been obscured, suddenly re- appeared and lit up the stately magnificence of the building, and in spite of herself the woman paused and gazed upon the scene. As big as a cathedral, (EOMMICLOO KSa(e)