Agnes Vol. 2 — page 41: what you’re looking at

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

af AGNES; UN, BEAUTY AND Pryssyer, \ 4 dha very words which the Marchioness had used yw apoaty ophe to that portt ait & day or two after the murder of Giulio, and when she was over- heard by Lisetta. Little had I foreseen the con- sequences of this proceeding on my part! I had ictured to myself Lucrezia Mirano sinking down at my feet, all quivering and trembling, and then utterly annihilated, when (according to my inten: tion) J should have produced the pistol and her own suit of masculine apparel, as proofs that everything was known, and to convince her how uscless it were to dony her guilt. But how dif.- ferent was everythiog that ensued! The sharp- pointed dagger was thrust against me—a preter- natural cuuraze must have inspired that bold bad woman :—a fierce vindictive rage must have taken possession of her; and instead of herself succumb- ing, it was I who fell vanquished and unconscious at her fect! But though for the present she has triumphed—though I am stretched here powerless ~-chained as it were tu this couch—yet must the day inevitably come when retribution shall over- take the murderess !” “And now enough! speak not another word ! let a seal be placed upon your lips, Edgar!’’ said Ciprina urgently; “for you have already spoken far too much, and you must fecl exhausted !” It must not bo supposed that Edgar Marcellin’s narrative was given in so uninterruptedly conti- nucus aform as we have shaped it. Lt occupied a much jonger period in the recital than it now takes to read, from the simple fact that the wounded man was compelled at brief intervala to pause in order to obtain breath and to rest him- self; and on several occasions Ciprina would not suffer him to continue until he had moistened his throat with some refreshing beverage. And then too, every time his lang age appeared to be swelling into excitement, Ci. rina broke iu upon his discourse and besought him ‘o soothe his mind ere he continued. Thus was it*that the utmost care was teken by his tender and thoughtful nurse to prevent him from exciting himeelf too much ; and in this manner the narrative was pro- longed—or rather, we should say, the period which its recital occupied was lengthened, and upwards of an hour elapsed while Ciprina was listening to these explanations. CHAPTER VII. THE SECRET PASSAGE IN THE WALL. It has beon more than onco stated that the ar- rangements of the Mirano mansion affurded faci- lities for the secret intrigues and gallantries of the Marchioness ; and we have likewise observed, that when Ciprina scttled beneath that roof, she was duly initiated into the mystery of the arrange- ments to which we have just alluded. Bur still there were two or three scorets connected with the mansion which the Marchioness had kept to herself,—not exactly because she had ever at any moment oxpgpicnoed a want of confidence in Ciprina—noPF™ because she could ever have pus- sibly foreseen the probability of those secrets be- coming useful to herself: but sho had kept them ~-partly becauso she had really deemed at the the trouble to re. because the exist- well calculated to a or belief time that i¢ was useless to take veal them, and partly perhaps ence of a mystery in a house is ' imbue sume winds with a species of ide that a mystery it ought to remain. The Mirano mansion was ia reality an old building which had been considerably renovated by the deceased Marquis, Lucrezia's husband; and so great were the improvements effected by his lordship that any one would have stared with 1o- credulity on being informed that the structure was not altogether a mcdern one. Sv far from this being the fact, there was a portion of it which was ancient enough, and which had been built in the troublous times whon feuds and civil wars wero of frequent occurrence in the Tuscan terri- ory. Paint, gilding, decorations, and embellish- ments, had however ao completely enodernized tho aspect of all this oldest part of the mansion, that no ono when passing along particular corridors, or standing in the midst of certain rvoma or land- ings, would be likely to conceive that the walls in- stoad of being of light brickwork, were of heavy stone masonry. Still leas would any uninitiated wanderer amidst the sumptuous mazes of that spacious mansion, have suspected that ‘there was & partition-wall through the entiro thick- ness of which rau a passage. Yet such was the case. A door communicating with this passage opened in the wainscot of Ciprina’s ante-chamber, and so exquisitely was this door fitted—sv per- fectly was it adjusted in its setting, that no cye however keen could detect its existence. Tho reader now knows where the sccret passage ter- minated at one extremity : we have noxt to spoak of the other end. There a deep wall-staircaso led down into the lower part of the mansion—or, in plainer terms, descended into a cellar-like place whence there was a door opsning intu one of the stable-yards. There can ba no doubt that these mysterious arrangements were contrived to enablo the owners of the Mirayno’ mansion, in the olden times of trouble, to escape at any moment unvb- served and unsuspected by means of that passage, that staircase, and that door opening iutu tho stablo-yard and which seemed merely to constitute the entrance to a basement cellar. Tho late Muar- quis of Mirano, when ronovating and embellishing his palatial mansion, had retained all these mys- teriuus atrangements,—not because he could pos- sibly suppose they would ever again serve any human purpose, but for just the same reason that he preserved anything else connected with his ancestors and which sustained or corrvborated the historic associations belonging to his race. Ciprina, as wo have said, remained utterly igno- rant of tho existence of this passaze, one extre- mity of which communicated with her anto- chamber. She occupied a suite vf rvomes con- sisting of this ante-chamwber, a bouduvir, and two bed-chambers, opening from one into another, = tho outer door being that of the ante-chamber. Thus Ciprina naturally believed that if the outer door of the ante-chamber .were secured, no one could possibly obtuin admittance into her suite of apartments. The reader has by this time compre- hended that it was otherwise; for the door of the secret passage vupened into that ante-chamber. Ah! if Ciprina had suspected this, how she would have trembled to leave Edgar Marcellia by bimaell EORRIC OOO SS COMM