Pickwick Abroad: A Companion to the Pickwick Papers — page 206: what you’re looking at

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

190 “Tt is I—Lestrelles—your lover!” said “ All resistance is useless—you are my prisoner till you consent to become my he. wife.” The old woman overheard these words, which were addressed to her young mis- tress (who fainted in the arms of the Vis- count) and she gave vent to the most ter- rible and appalling screams. At that mo- ment Lapierre was struggling with her near the loop-hole before mentioned ; and hastily taking off his mask, he hung it upon a nail which he knew to be there, in order that it might not be broken by the violence of the old female, as he was not aware how “soon he might require it for other pur- poses. In the meantime the Viscount de Lestrelles carried Clarisse, who was still in a state of insensibility, up the winding staircase, and at length reached the roof of the tower. He crossed the leads to the angle precisely opposite, In a diagonal di- rection, to the little turret whence the door opens on the summit, and pressed an iron plate that was set in a stone. The plate flew’ open, and discovered a brass knob, which, upon being turned, caused a portion of the stone work of the parapet to fall back, as if it were a trap-door. ‘the mass of stone and masonry was con- tained in an iron frame-work, to form a species of concealed trap. When open, the aperture discovered a flight of stairs, ~ down which the Viscount passed, till he reached ajsmall chamber, about three yards Square, SMe did. not. encroach upon the inner apartments of the tower, as it was actually hollowed out of the thick walls “themselves. On a pallet in this cell, to which air was admitted by a loop-hole, did Lestrelles deposit the lifeless form of. Cla- risse ; and ina few moments he recalled her to sense and recollection by applying water to her temples, jusi as Lapierre and the old woman made their al a ani in the same room. “You had better hasten away for a moment,” said the Viscount : “the screams of the old woman may have alarmed the patrol, and unwelcome visitors might chance to visit the tower.” Lapierre hurried up the stairs, closed the trap behind him, descended the other stair- case, and having gained the large apart- ment ‘on the second floor, threw off his fe- male garb, and assumed that ofa laboring man, which he had conveyed thither in*the morning in case of necessity. His old wo- Indeed, PICKWICK ABROAD. — : man’s attire = concealed under the etre Ww; upon which he threw himself and feigned to be asleep, when I entered the room. It is not necessary to mention the alarm and agony experienced by Clarisse, when she found herself in that horrible cell, Nor shall I_recount how Lestrelles used every threat and menace he could think of to induce Ularisse to become his wife. She preferred death to sucha portion—and tk Viscount determined to reduce her to.sub- mission by length of captivity. As La- pierre was obliged fe run out and in the tower very frequently durmg the day, to feteh provisions and cobs necessaries, he had taken the precaution of supplying him- self with all the paraphernalia of a chif- fonnier in order to avoid exciting the sus- picions of the neighbors. On the morning after this eventful ieht, the'tower was visited y the Commissary of Police, Versac, and m self. The Vis- count de Lestrelles, for some purpose or another, was obliged to issue from his place of concealment, and, as he emanated from the trap, he found himself in the pre- sence of the town-sergeant. The case was , desperate—he saw that his secret was dis- goveredgpne did not hesitate how to act. With blow of his pistol he felled the man on the leads, and hastily dragged him ‘into the stair-case, where he bound him tight, hand and foot, and then took every necessary measure to rec | him to life. It apvears that the domestic forgot his mask which he had hung in the loop-hole ; and the gloom of the stair-case, even in the | day time, will fully account for its having ° escaped my notice on my previous visits to the tower, as well as that of the Commis- sary and Versac.. But on the morning when I placed my hand upon it, and re- treated down the stairs, an idea flashed across the mind of Lapierre, , who was lis- tening at the door of the second floor, be- cause he had heard my approaching. foot- steps, that such was the cause of my sud- den alarm ; and ere I had time to re-ascend the stairs’ ‘again—indeed, during my pre- cipitate retreat—he had rushed to the loop- ote and possessed himself of the mask. He then threw himself upon his straw, and pretended to be asleep, till the inopportune presence of his master at the door of the ‘upper flight excited my attention, and suc- ceeded in alarming him. It must also be observed that no screams that issued from e (CO) 10\OO) (9) (E@