The Mysteries of the Court of London by Pauline Clarendon — page 216: what you’re looking at

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

SCENES AT MRS. BRACEH’S ESTABLISHMENT 213 with dreams — the figure of the wronged and outraged Caroline changed suddenly into some ghastly shape, which seated itself upon the bosom of the sleeper; and for a few minutes Mrs. Brace endured all the horrors of a night- mare. She awoke in a: cold tremor, and with a consternation in the brain. For a short time she could not persuade her- self that she had been made the sport of a disordered 1magina- tion; but, as there was a light in the room, her eyes began to remark familiar objects, and she at length acquired the certainty that she was indeed safe in her own bed, and that nothing which her fevered fancy had conjured up was present to her view. Referring to her watch, which lay on a night-table within reach, she found that it was only one o'clock in the morning, and that she had not slept more than an hour and a half. Settling herself, therefore, in the most comfortable position to woo the embraces of slumber, she closed her eyes, and was already beginning to feei a soft and dreamy repose stealing over her, when a strange sound caused her to wake suddenly up with a nervous start. She listened with breathless attention, and all was stil’. Was it, then, a false alarm? — perhaps the first phase in another hideous dream that was about to whirl her in imagination through the horrors of a second nightmare? Her mouth was parched, and she refreshed her palate with some sweet and delicious beverage that stood upon the night-table. But as she put down the glass another strange sound fell upon her ears. Again she listened; the noise was continued, and, as she racked her imagination to conjecture what it could be, the thought flashed to her mind that it resembled the sawing of wood. Mrs. Brace was a courageous woman naturally. She moreover knew that there were three persons of the male sex beneath the roof at that moment, namely, her two foot- men and Mr. Harley. Succour might therefore be reckoned upon in case of danger; and this reflection decided the milliner how to act. Hastily thrusting her feet into slippers and enveloping herself in her cloak, she stole cautiously forth from her bedchamber. Then she paused on the landing, and listened. COME OOO SS (GO)