Penny Dreadfuls, 1923 · page 32 of 116
The Taking of Helen by John Masefield — page 32: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Analysis This is a page of running prose narrative (page 20) from "The Taking of Helen," a Victorian penny dreadful. The text depicts a character named Nireus arriving at Lord Halys' house seeking the Queen, only to learn she has mysteriously disappeared after supper while heading toward "the Great Stones" three hours prior. The passage reveals that Prince Paris has also vanished, leaving those at the house bewildered and the escort searching the hills. The narrative concerns itself with this apparent abduction or elopement, creating melodramatic suspense typical of the genre.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
20 THE TAKING OF HELEN “Is the Queen there ?”’ The man was already riding and swearing at his horse, but he turned and shouted something which sounded like “ ‘They’ll tell you there.”’ Nireus set off “straight to the north.” In half an hour he saw the long white walls of Lord Halys’ stables, and the house, with lit windows, above them. ‘The dogs were bark- ing in the kennels, as though wolves were about, but above the noise of the dogs Nireus heard the jingling of a troop of horse, trotting down into the valley to the east. At Lord Halys’ door there was a confusion of com- ing and going. Somebody hailed Nireus as a messen- ger from the King. ‘““T am not a messenger from the King,” he said, “but I have a word for the Queen: may I see her?’’ “See her? We do not know where she is.”’ “Surely she is here?”’ ‘She was here. After supper she disappeared.” “Surely you know where she is?”’ ‘Nobody knows. The escort is beating the hills. Lord Halys is distracted. She was seen going down the path to the Great Stones, three hours ago, and no one has seen her since.”’ | ‘““Was she alone?”’ “She was alone when she was seen, but there is an- other who has disappeared, the Prince Paris, and now no one knows what to think.”’ CORNICLOOKS:E©