The Works of George W. M. Reynolds — page 297: what you’re looking at

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

CHAPTER XXIII THE COUNT AND COUNTESS OF TOLEDO Upwarps of eight months had elapsed from the date of those incidents which we have been relating, and it was now the autumn of 1845. <A glorious autumn it was, too, but no- where more glowing or richer in nature’s produce of fruits and flowers-than in the southern districts of France. In the neighbourhood of a beautiful httle village, on the French side of the Eastern Pyrenees, a delightful cottage residence was situated in the midst of a spacious and well- kept garden. Thore were likewise pleasure-grounds and shrubberies, an orchard, and a piece of water, on which the swans floated in graceful stateliness. In the stables attached to this dwelling there were three or four horses, and in the coach-house a close carriage and an elegant phaeton. The occupants of this charming villa were a gentleman and lady, two male domestics, and two females. The house and prem- ises had been to let for some time until within about a couple of months of the period of which we are now writing, when they were suddenly taken by the Count and Countess of Toledo, the gentleman and lady already alluded to. They arrived one evening with a couple of attendants, one male and one female, in a post-chaise from a northerly direction, it was believed from Paris, and they halted for a day or two at the village inn. During their walks in the neighbourhood they perceived the villa residence so charmingly situated in the midst of its grounds, and taking a fancy to the spot, they decided upon settling there, at least for awhile. The house was to be let furnished, and belonged to the old notary of the village. A bargain was soon struck. The Count de Toledo needed to give no references, for he had something much better in the shape of a well-filled purse, and hiring the house 28) CONNIE DOO KS (E(@) m