Penny Blood Serial Fiction — page 160: what you’re looking at

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

LADY BESS’S HISTORY 143 traces had evidently been cut away, was browsing on the erass by the roadside; the other horse and the postilion were not to be seen. That gentleman was the only person visible upon the spot. From the point where this spectacle broke upon my sight, I was not immediately perceived by that gentleman, for I had stopped short amidst a knot of trees to contemplate the scene. At first I could not discern his countenance, but in a few moments — as he raised his eyes and looked with evident anxiety along the road — to my astonishment I at once recognized my treacherous enemy James Knight. Ah! and he was alone there, and i could upbraid him for his villainous conduct toward me. - But of what use were upbraidmgs? Could I not turn the circumstance to my own advantage and punish him by a humiliating process at the same time? No sooner was the design conceived than I resolved to execute it. Drawing forth my pistol, without knowing whether it was loaded or not, I suddenly appeared before the amazed and startled young man. He at once recognized me, and being a coward as well as a treacherous villain, fancied that I was about to ‘immolate him to my vengeance. He fell upon his knees, beseeching me to spare him. While he remained in that humiliating posture, I bade him explain to me as briefly as possible the meaning of the circumstances in which I found him placed. ‘He told me that the nature of his mother’s affairs at Barcelona had rendered it needful to obtain certain docu- ments from England, and that he had accordingly been despatched off post-haste upon the mission. About a quarter of an hour before | had arrived upon that spot, a party of robbers had sprung forth from amidst the adjacent trees. The horses had taken fright, rushed up the bank, and upset the chaise. The robbers had carried off his portmanteau, his purse, and whatsoever valuables he had about his person, and had decamped with their booty. The chaise was broken, and the postilion had ridden back on one of the horses to the nearest posting-house, which was about four miles distant, in order to obtain another chaise, or else succour to repair the overturned one. Such was James Knight’s recital, the truth of which appeared to be fully corroborated by circumstances. I bade him rise from his knees and give me his coat and hat in exchange for my military frock and -_— Gomilcdoo cs (C(O)