The Freemason's Daughter: A Novel — page 59: what you’re looking at

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

50 THE FREEMASON’S DAUGHTER. could express his astonishment, Mr. Crab entered the courtyard. He paused, on perceiving the clerk. ‘“< Who let that man out of his cell?” he demanded. “T did, sir,” replied one of the keepers. “‘ You acted wrongly, then. without my orders,” said the master, mildly; “he is extremely dangerous— remove him !” It was in vain that the clerk remonstrated. The owner of the establishment received his assurances that he was perfectly sane with a bland smile. Rendered desperate by the sight of the keepers gathering round him, he resisted, and a violent struggle ensued, in which the fiddle of the poor old musician was broken, and his friend, the archangel, knocked to the ground. Just as one of the keepers was about to level a blow at Gridley, a little girl, the daughter of one of the men, entered the yard. The child had been in the habit of visiting the house of the widow, knew the old man, had sat upon his knee hundreds of times, and was not in the least afraid of him. Springing on one of the benches, she threw her arm round his neck, and with the other warded off the blow. “You know me, Lizzy,” said the old clerk, bursting into tears. “I am not mad—not mad!” “ Don’t hurt him,” said the child; “ he is not mad. You see he knows me. I am not in the least afraid of him.” At this moment Lizzy’s mother, a stout, bustling, active woman, wife to the head-keeper, and governante ecomnuicloooks (SO