The Works of George W. M. Reynolds — page 87: what you’re looking at

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

70 REYNOLDS’ WORKS own chambers, while ali these things were taking place, must be in pursuance of a strict mandate issued by the police officials to that effect. She likewise comprehended that she was being borne to gaol, for whither else could she be thus dragged away at that time of the night? And it was so. In a quarter of an hour the vehicle reached the gate of the gloomy prison, and when the officials thereof were summoned, the valet gave whispered instructions relative to the consignment of Miss Marshall to a solitary cell. In a few minutes she was alone in that dungeon, for all the appearance of a dungeon had it, though not underground. It was a small chamber, surrounded with walls of massive ma- sonry but too well calculated to beat back any cries of anguish which might issue from the lips of a captive imprisoned there. There was no window in those walls, and the air was only admitted by a narrow grating in the huge door. An iron bedstead, with mean and sordid bedding, a table, a chair, a basin and ewer, these constituted the furniture of the place. The turnkey, who conducted Miss Marshall thither, took away the light, locking and bolting the door behind him, and thus was she left in the depth of darkness and to the companionship of her own sad thoughts. Still her presence of mind did not forsake her. Arbitrary as was the treatment to which she thus found herself sub- jected, yet she knew full well that even in a country where such things could be done, this same tyrannous power might not be stretched to such a length as to take her life secretly, nor publicly without some form of trial. She likewise re- flected that the wife of the Minister of the Interior would most probably seek some means of befriending her, and she moreover knew that the course she had adopted in respect to the minister’s written undertaking would be certain to lead to inquiries concerning her. Thus, altogether she was not without some slight consolation, but still she deeply felt the cruel treatment she was experiencing, while upon her cheeks still burned the glow of indignation on account of the brutality of the minister’s valet. For more than an hour she remained seated in the chair, giving way to her thoughts, and then, without taking off her apparel, she lay down upon the bed. Sleep did not visit her eyes, nor did she even woo it; she had no inclination for slumber. Nearly another hour passed, and it was verging CONNIE ICO KS (E(0)