Agnes Vol. 2 — page 47: what you’re looking at

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

%& AGNES; OR, BRAUTY AND PLEASURK. no oe = ee eee eonewe? w~edesee on Pees J TF sq-eenenemeatnn be alarmed when she found Lucrezia Mirano remain- ing for three or four minutes in the chumber. ‘Besides, all was perfectly stil: therein ; there was no sudden movement as if a murderous half empty. blow were dealt; but the serpent was evidently | “sliding noiselessly 3 every vessel contalulag @ beverage likely to be ap- | plied tu human lips, At length the Marchivness ! the lemonade cP di Mirano came forth from the inner chamber:| ‘Oh, wretch! wretch!” cried Ciprina, thu cme, cement REN errr arene cenmeninste te er oemanen chet arn = SecA RAI te SPRAY SER AN eteenaemannnnsasinarrnemanmaammineteaineeal | “Just heaven! what bave ycu done?” ejacu. adjoining | lated—or rather shrieked furth Ciprina, as ashe rushed forward, for she saw that the tumbler was “What have I done?” exclaimed Marcellin, about, infusing its venom into | looking bewildered and aghast. “I woke up—I felt athirst —you yourself filled that tumbler with e § e she flung another passing Jook upon Ciprina, who | alluding to the Marchioness, ‘There is death in continued to simulate the profoundest sleep ; and ; that glass ! —death, Ki igar!—death !” likewise having darted a last shuddering glance| “My God, Ciprina! what have you done >’ ranu proceeded into the boudoir. Then, light as a | posture in the couch. a i at the portrait of Lucrezia Borgia, \.ucrezia Mi- | cried the invalid, raising himself up to a sitting snow-iiake falling upon the earth — light asa; “Qh, heaven be thanked! I remember! [I ra. feather sinking upon the grass—did Ciprina de- ‘member!”’—and now Ciprina flew wildly away scend frum her couch. The Marchioness had left | into the adjacent rvom. ° the dvor ajar, just as she bad found it: Ciprina In two or three moments she returned, bearing was therefure enabled at once to follow Lucrezia | a phial in ber hand; and she exclaimed, “ Drink, with her looks. She saw her traverse the boudoir | Edgar! delay not! Fur heavon’s sake let me and enter the ante-room. Across the boudoir now | pour three or four drops down your throat !” glided Ciprina likewise,—thus unseen and nvoise-; “ Ciprina, you frighten me!’’ ejaculated Mar- lossly following in the track of the vile woman | collin. “No! no!’’—and he repulsed her. “I ? who was departing. A poep from the next half- | will not allow a single drop open dvoor—and what did Ciprina behold ? The | “ Tnsensate | you are puisoned!” cried Ciprina, Muarchioness disappearing through the wainscot , vehemently. of the ante-chamber—and that wainscot instan-; “My God!—and you tell mo so?” exclaimed taneously becoming whole in substance, level in | Marcellin. “,Oh! what a house of infamy 1s surface, and uniform in aspect as Ciprina had ever | this! But ’twas you, Ciprina—’twas you that known it to be! prepared tho lemonade !—’twas you yourself that Could she believe her own vision P She drew | poured it out!” 7 her band across her eyes. Had she been dream- | “ Ah, my God!” shrieked the wretched young ‘Yaig P bad she been following a phantom of the | lady ; “ he believes that it is LT who have poisoned imagination ? No!—her mind was too deeply im- |} him! But Ah!” she abruptly ejaculated, “I pressed with the ovnviction of the reality of it ; know what to do!” all! And now, therefore, in a moment did the! She then snatched up the tumbler from the suspicion of a secrot door fi-sh to Ciprina’s brain ! | table, and she poured the remainder of its contents Yes—this must be the solu\“sn of the mystery! | down her throat. But ail this was accowpanied A. cold shudder swept throught’ + the young lJady’s } by a wildnoss, a vehemence, and a passion which form—a glacial chill seemed to d. ‘ke to her heart, | were only too well calculated to bewilder Edgar ae she thought within herself, “ x. the very mo-; Marcellin’s mind with misgivings and suspi- mont when I deemed myself seoure, peril the ; cions. Pd most tremendous was hovering around me!” ' © Just heaven !” be exclaimed, “in her remorse Ciprina sprang forward into the anto-chamber, , she has poisoned herself! Wretched girl—~” and pressed her hands hard against that partof' “ Yes, yes-~I am poisoned, Edgar!” ejaculated tho wainseot which she had seen close behind the Ciprina,—“as you also are poisoned! Therefore Marchioness a fow moments before: but she met ' it we die we shall dio together !—tbough, as I have with a complete resistance—nothing yielded to her. a soulto be saved it was not I who mixed the touch. Then she hastily placed a chair in a slant- | poison in that glass! But we will live!—yes, we ing position against that part of the wainscot, so | will both live! And behold bow !” that if the door were again opened inward, the. She placed the phial to her lips and swallowed clair might fall in the same direction. All this! a few drops of its contents: thon presenting the was tho result of nervous excitement and terror | bottle to Edgar, she exclaimed, “ Tuis is an anti- on Cipriaa’s part: but now sbe suddenly regained ; dote! J*ur heaven’s suko delay not in taking ‘her furtitude—and she mentally ejaculated, “ In-: it!” sensate that 1 am! Lucrezia will not return to! Marcellin, though still terribly bewildered, these rooms this night! The murderess thinks , nevertheless now suffered Ciprina to have hor ow.. | that her work is done, and that she will never | way; and she accordingly poured some of the von- again behold either Edgar or myself ia tho land | tents of the phial down his throat. She imme- of the living !———But lot me seo if Edgar still | diately appoared to breathe more freely—a change slveps !” . | took place in her looke—they lost all their wild- Ciprina, judging from what had taken place in | ness—an expression of serene confidence succeeded her own chamber, had not the slightest doubt that | to the horrified aspect her featurea had su recently every decanter, Jug, and tumbler in Edgar’s room ; worn—and she said, “We are now both saved, was likewise powoned.” She therefore now glided, ' Edgar.” with her switgMbut noiseless naked fect, through | the apartments tathe innermost one of all. | “Ah, Ciprina, have I-disturbed you ?” inquired | — Marcellin, who at that very instant wos replacing | a tumbler upon the table by the side of his couch. COMME HOG SS