Penny Dreadfuls, 1916 · page 329 of 400
Tom Anderson, Dare-Devil: A Young Virginian in the Revolution — page 329: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Analysis This is a **running prose page** from Chapter XXXII of a Victorian penny dreadful. The text describes Princess Oczakoff writing urgent letters late into the night. She contacts an eminent German chemist named Klopstock, requesting he develop a chemical preparation to remove a mysterious dye that has disfigured someone's complexion—apparently to help a character named Tom. She encloses a blank signed check to fund his research. The passage emphasizes her desperation and determination, noting she writes through the night with servants bringing fresh candles.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
CHAPTER XXXII A PRINCESS AND A CANNIBAL TuHaT night two people — antipodal and about as far apart as nature, race, society, and conditions can set two human beings — put their wits to work in Tom’s behalf. When the Princess Oczakoff had said good-night to her guests she called for her writing-desk — an old, shabby partridge-wood box it was, with a curious lock, to which she pinned her faith. ‘he big escritoire in the corner was not for her. She wrote from her sofa always. To the emi- nent German chemist, Klopstock, she explained her wishes. It was unfortunate that she could not say what were the constituents of this dye which had been used to disfigure and disguise a beautiful complexion. It was pretty certain that no mineral had been employed. Meager data? What then? Genius must surmount the meagerness of evidence. What else was Genius for? It was for the accomplishment of the impossible. Professor Klopstock must overcome the difficulties the task presented. He must divine what composed this stain. He must compound and send to her something to remove this mask. It was a matter of the first importance. She begged that the Herr Professor would lose no time in forwarding to her the prep- aration she required. Finally she enclosed a signed check made payable to the great German hidden away in his laboratory, a near-sighted incarnation of Genius, which the recipient was at liberty to fill out. When this missive had been folded, sealed with wax, and addressed, madame settled down to hours of hard work. She wrote on and on. Every now and then her bell jangled impatiently, and the negress dozing on a rug in the adjoining room brought fresh candles. It was nearly daylight when madame, at length, threw down the sput- GOMIGooOo SS (C©) im