The Works of George W. M. Reynolds — page 212: what you’re looking at

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

THE LAWYERS 195 of the carrier breed. One of these doves the Amazonian lady took forth from the cage, and in less than a minute tied the little scrap of paper with the silken cord under its wing. She then opened her hand, and the messenger-bird flew out of the window, instantaneously disappearing in the ob- scurity of the night. Meanwhile, in pursuance of another rapidly whispered command from her mistress, Rosa had fastened the two sheets of the bed together, and had tied one extremity to _the bedpost, which was near the casement. “In two or three days I shall be back again, safe and sound. Don’t fear; nothing can be done to you, and your cousin John is unsuspected.’ Having whispered these words, Lady Bess lost not an- other instant in passing herself out of the casement, and with wondrous agility and skill she glided down the twisted sheets, so that with but a slight fall she reached the ground in safety. To hasten to the stable, put the saddle and bridle on the horse, and lead forth the noble animal, was now the work of but a couple of minutes; then vaulting on its back, Lady Bess was borne away like an arrow shot from a bow. In the meantime Rosa had gone on talking in the room in the same strain as before, and precisely as if her mistress was still there. The two solicitors, who were out on the landing, failed not to catch most of what the woman uttered, although, for delicacy’s sake, they had not approached nearer to the door than the narrowness of the landing rendered necessary. All that we have described from the moment Lady Bess entered her chamber with Rosa until she flitted away on the back of her noble steed barely oc- cupied a quarter of an hour, and that was no great length of time to examine a maenatiel wash it, fasten bandages on it, and allow for taking off aad putting on those garments eat it was necessary to remove and change. At least such was the calculation made relative to the lapse of minutes by the two lawyers. Yet, toward the end of the interval named, a feeling of uneasiness and a sense of misgiving began to creep into the minds of both. Not that they thought Lady Bess wes too long in her chamber, but those continuous Outpourings of lamentations, ejaculations, and comments on the part of Rosa, added to the din she had created with CONNIE DOOKS (EO)