The Works of George W. M. Reynolds — page 205: what you’re looking at

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

188 REYNOLDS’ WORKS him to escape, so that he should not be led into any dis- agreeable revelations with regard to antecedent circum- stances. Lady Saxondale therefore decided that Chiffin the Cannibal should be enabled to effect his escape; but how was this to be done? The windows of the chapel and the cloister were all protected by massive iron bars, as her ladyship had intimated when directing the constable’s attention to the fact, and the constable himself was keeping watch outside the chapel door, which was barred, bolted, and locked. Nevertheless, Lady Saxondale could afford to smile at these circumstances, inasmuch as there was a secret-connected with the cloister known to no living soul except herself. Many long years back her husband had communicated it to her, and as it was a sort of hereditary mystery preserved in the family, she had never revealed it to other ears. She sat in her chamber till midnight, and then, having ascertained, by listening, that the castle was all quiet, and that the servants had at length separated to their re- spective chambers, she prepared for the enterprise which she had in hand. First she took from her writing-desk a sum of money, amounting to a couple of hundred pounds in notes and gold, and this she wrapped up in a small parcel. Then, with the lamp in her hand, she descended to the library, and opening a small cupboard underneath one of the bookeases, she took from that recess a moderate-sized key. This, through long disuse, had become encrusted with rust. Lady Saxondale accordingly returned to her own chamber, and provided herself with a small bottle of hair-oil from her toilet-table. She likewise took some lucifer matches and a penknife, and again descended the stairs. On reaching the great entrance-hall, she extinguished the lamp, but still carrying it in her hand, passed out into the quadrangular court on which the buildings looked. The night was dark as pitch; there was consequently no danger of her being observed by any one who might not as yet have retired to rest. But as she glanced up at the windows on every side, she saw that one light was alone burning, and this was at the casement of the passage where the head constable of Gainsborough was keeping watch. Lady Saxondale crossed the quadrangle, and stopped at a small low door in the northwestern angle. She tried the (E(@) m CONNIE ICO KS