Beautiful Rienzi; or, The secret vendetta — page 275: what you’re looking at

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

270 BRAUTIFUL RIENZ1. trouble. She left Washington as soon as possible, and plunged into evil ways in New York. ‘‘She sank very low, until her crimes had made her so well known to the authorities that she fled from the States, and joined a gipsy gang with whom she had lived for the last ten years, and gained some little tact in telling fortunes. ‘During their wanderings in New York State she had become acquainted with some of the facts of Isolina Ri- enzi’s trial. Miss Rienzi was about to be torn from her friends under a false plea; she managed to obtain a sight of Mrs. Beaumont at Greely’s Mills, and instantly recog- nized her, despite the change in her appearance. ‘For the sake of the beautiful babe whom she had dan- dled in her arms, and nursed like a mother, she had taken a long and perilous journey to Washington to put the facts of that long committed transaction in my hands, who she said was a close friend, and would be glad tosave Miss Rienzi from trouble. ‘With earnest and repeated injunctions that I should at once lay this story before Mr. Rienzi, the old woman re- ceived a small piece of money from me and went away. And I—wicked—revengeful—could not bring myself to serve my poor friend so far, but waited seemingly to see what would happen. ‘‘Some three months afterward, the same old gipsy woman sought my presence again. She was double with rheumatism, foot-sore, famished, and distressed in mind. ‘She said she had been traveling night and day for four weeks; that Miss Isolina Rienzi had been claimed by Mrs. Beaumont and was going to be taken away to Canada. She had got hold of the information from the chief gipsy of the camp, who was bribed by Ralph Morecombe to assist them toescape. She had seen the young Miss Rienzi going to bid her sister good-by, and she knew exactly how Miss Ivanilla would be hoodwinked, and she had come here to implore me in the name of justice to do something to re- store the young lady to her family. Surely I had not obeyed her former injunctions—Heaven’s curses on me if I had not; the secret which for her own safety she had kept so long, was burning her heart up with remorse. ‘‘T reassured her once more with fair promises, but what she had told me filled me with vengeful exultation. Isolina should be consigned to the companionship of such CORNUCG OOO S (©)