Penny Blood Serial Fiction — page 136: what you’re looking at

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

LADY BESS’S HISTORY 119 and I saw full well that he had conceived a bitter hatred against me. ‘Under these circumstances was it that we arrived at Barcelona. I do not pause to say anything particular rel- ative to the children entrusted to my charge, as I remained so short a time with Mrs. Knight, but I now come to the incident which caused me to leave her abruptly. On arriving at Barcelona, we took up our quarters at a hotel prepara- tory to the hiring of suitable apartments during the period that it would be requisite for Mrs. Knight to remain in that city. The very day after our arrival, and at about eight o'clock in the evening, Mrs. Knight discovered that some articles of jewelry had been abstracted from her trunk. This announcement was made in the presence of her son James, and he immediately turned toward me, asking, with a malignant look, ‘what I was doing in his mother’s chamber about an hour back.’ Instantaneously understand- ing the nature of the aspersion he intended to throw upon me, my indignation burst forth in no measured terms, for it was totally false that I had been to his mother’s room at all. He vowed that I had, and insisted that my boxes should be searched. This I at once assented to, whereupon Mrs. Knight, who, poor weak-minded woman, had begun to srow suspicious concerning me, led the way to my chamber, followed by her son and myself. * On my way thither, the thought, the terrible thought, flashed to my mind that if James Knight were villain enough to accuse me thus wrongtully, he was also sufficiently treach- erous and malignant to have placed the jewels in my box in order to ruin me. I beheld at a glance all the danger of my position, and in the swift, brief moments that were passing I revolved in my mind the two alternatives that lay before me, — either to dare the accusation boldly on the one hand, or to fly from it precipitately on the other. Though perfectly innocent, as God is my judge, yet I chose the latter alternative, for I could not endure the thought of being plunged into a prison. I therefore determined to escape. ~ We entered my chamber, and in order to throw the treacherous young man entirely off his guard with respect to my intention, I affected not to entertain the slightest suspicion that the Jewels would really be found in my box. - Pe. COIMIGDoOo Ss (C(O)