Roanoke of Roanoke Hall: A Romance — page 93: what you’re looking at

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

Roanoke of Roanoke Hall, 87 still dark, and close by yawned the black gulf of the main entrance, and into it I plunged. If he had not seen me I might yet escape. Hastily I crouched down, with my face in the corner, that my dark hair and dress might render me still less conspicuous, and strove to silence the fierce panting of my lungs. I dared not look round, but I heard him go to the boat and take something from it, and then there was a short space of silence. Concluding that he had departed, I was about to rise, with a sigh of great relief, when I heard a step close behind me, and a hand feeling along the wall. I nearly shrieked in my sudden agony of terror. Had he seen or heard me, and was he seeking for my hiding place ? ; Never have I forgotten the torture of the ext few minutes. Even now, at times, after all these years, I live again in sleep that age of heart-sickening alarm, and wake shaking in every limb. Closer and closer to me came that groping hand until, still searching the wall, it lingered within a few inches of my head. My heart beat as if it would break, and I thought that ( 1OOY | a) comichbooks.com