The Works of George W. M. Reynolds — page 108: what you’re looking at

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

THE STRONG ROOM 91 toward Mrs. Webber. But it was too late. The diabolic force was already in the Burker’s arm, the weapon was de- scending with terrific power, deep down did it plunge between the shoulders of the old man, a groan burst from his lips, and he fell forward a corpse, with his head upon the table. “It was nothing, after all,” said Mrs. Webber, the instant the blow was dealt. ‘“ I thought I heard some one moving about up-stairs.”’ But here we must interrupt the thread of our narrative fora brief space, to return to Lettice Rodney. It will be remem- bered that when Mrs. Webber was summoned to the parlour in order to conduct Lettice to her chamber, she was seized with astonishment on finding that her master was not alone, and that the lady whom she took to be Mrs. Rayner had been admitted during her temporary absence from the house. That look had troubled Lettice; her guilty conscience instantaneously suggested a cause of apprehension. Perhaps this old housekeeper had been for years in Mr. Pollard’s serv- ice, perhaps she had known the veritable Louisa, and per- haps she was now stricken with astonishment on beholding in the supposed Mrs. Rayner a person so different from what she had expected to see, and from what the little Louisa was likely to have grown up into? Such were the reflections which swept all in a moment through Lettice Rodney’s mind, and a cold terror thrilled through her form. She had nevertheless a sufficiency of self-possession still remaining to avoid the betrayal ot what she felt, and she followed Mrs. Webber to the bedroom prepared for her reception. Mrs. Webber was considerably disconcerted by the arrival of the supposed Mrs. Rayner, and was apprehensive lest the murderous plot could not now be carried out. <A portion of what she felt was reflected in her looks, and Lettice, being herself keenly and poignantly on the watch, saw that there was something strange and peculiar in the way that the housekeeper surveyed her.. Still interpreting matters accord- ing to her own alarms, her former suspicion seemed to be strengthened: namely, that Mrs. Webber had a misgiving in respect to her identity with Mrs. Rayner. She longed to lead the old woman into conversation, to ascertain if her fears were really well founded, but the words she would have spoken appeared to stick in her throat, and she could not give utterance to a single syllable. CONnNIELOOKS (C(O)