The Works of George W. M. Reynolds — page 78: what you’re looking at

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

VENETIA AND HER AGENT 61 eleven o’clock to-morrow night I shall be at the private door which you have named.”’’ He then* bowed and hastened from the room, Jessica being in readiness on the landing to conduct him unob- served out of the palace, for she knew full well that he had been employed by her mistress in some secret matters, and that it was by no means desirable for him to be seen and recognized within those walls, inasmuch as it would naturally strike either the prince regent or Lord Sackville as remarkably strange that Venetia should hold any inter- course with a man who had played so vile a part toward her on former occasions. ; Yes, and bitterly, bitterly, too, did Venetia repent the precipitation and rashness with which she had thus renewed her acquaintance with the colonel. But there was now no remedy for it; the mischief was done, and she must either ward off the consequences if she could, or mitigate them as much as possible. But, ah! eight o’clock strikes; it is time for her to repair to the greenroom and join the throng of amateurs who are to appear upon the stage on the present occasion. Starting from her seat, Venetia looked at herself in the glass. The colour was coming back to her cheeks, and as she rapidly pictured to herself the enthusiasm with which her presence was about to inspire the patrician audience in the private theatre, a smile of triumph shone upon her features. Indeed, when she repaired to the greenroom, so animated were her _ looks, so gay was her smile, and so sprightly her wit, that no one would have fancied to what a degree of tension her feelings had been strung during the last half-hour. CORnNICLOOKS (CO) im