The Works of George W. M. Reynolds — page 22: what you’re looking at

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

THE DRAMA OF A NIGHT : 5 retreated into her chamber, closing the door as gently as possible. The next moment Mrs. Ranger conducted the doctor into the apartment occupied by Agatha Owen. Here we must interrupt the thread of our narrative for the moment, in order to explain certain details with which it is necessary to make the reader acquainted. It was eleven o’clock — about a quarter of an hour after Mrs. Ranger and Maravelli had entered the villa — when a post-chaise, drawn by four horses, issued forth from Geneva by that same secluded road which ran through the fields, and which has been so frequently mentioned in recent chapters. On arriving within about a hundred yards of the villa, the equipage stopped, and three men leaped forth from the interior. Bidding the postilions wait patiently, they proceeded on foot along the road until they reached the boundary wall of the garden, and then stopping short, they appeared to expect some arrival which was to guide their next proceedings. In a few minutes the Earl of Curzon and Colonel Malpas arrived on horseback, and, dismounting from their animals, they fastened the bridles to the bough of a tree at a distance of about fifty yards from the villa. The nobleman and the colonel were enveloped in travel- ling cloaks, and seemed prepared for a somewhat lengthy journey during the night. Without delay — the moment they dismounted from their steeds — they repaired to the spot where the three individuals already mentioned were waiting; and we may at once observe that these persons were none others than the fishers of men, — Kobolt, Her- nani, and Walden. “ You are punctual,” said the earl, immediately address- ing them in a low tone and speaking in the French language. ‘This looks businesslike.’’ | “ You will find the whole matter conducted as nicely, as noiselessly, and as expeditiously as you could wish,” responded Kobolt. ‘‘ Show us where it is likely the fair ones will be in a few minutes, and leave the rest to us.’’ ' Here,”’ said the Earl of Curzon, indicating a particular part of the wali against which stood the stump of a tree, aS was revealed to the eyes of the three men by the moon- ECORNICLOOKS (C(O) am