The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 100: what you’re looking at

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

INTREPIDITY 79 for a few moments, and no sound of human voice or footfall reached her ears. Then she peeped forth, and by the mingled moonlight and lamplight she was enabled to assure herself that the street was entirely deserted. All was still; not a light was even visible at any opposite window. Now, then, was the moment, now the opportunity. Nor did the heroic Gertrude shrink from the danger of her self-imposed task, appalling though that peril must have seemed to be, not- withstanding the marvellous intrepidity of her soul. Having extinguished the light in the boudoir, she flung forth the rope in such a manner that it was doubled, both ends descending toward the pavement below. She then passed out of the window, and firmly clutching the double rope in both hands, while her feet clung to it also, she began to lower herself with amazing presence of mind. But scarcely had she thus commenced her fearful descent when the straw bonnet flew from her head and the cloak became detached from her person, thus leaving her in a state of semi-nudity and her hair all flowing wildly. The slanting moonbeams of silver played upon the countenance that expressed all the decision of a heroine, upon the bare bosom which remained upheaved with a strong feeling of suspense, and on the naked arms, so white and well-rounded, which clung with such tenacity to the double rope. Fortunate perhaps was it for the damsel that she got rid of the encum- brance of the ample cloak, the folds of which might only have embarrassed the nimble play of her delicate feet and robust legs as she slid gently down. Her lithe form, pos- sessing all the suppleness of a bayadere and the elasticity of a serpent, seemed to adapt itself yieldingly to the swaying of the rope and to every movement that she herself made in her perilous descent; nor less was it apparent that if with a perfect symmetry she blended great muscular power, to her love for her mistress she also united an extraordinary moral courage. | But ‘tis done! her delicate feet touch the pavement, and she stands safely in the street. A minute has scarcely elapsed since she crept forth from the window above. The moment she thus stands upon firm ground, she picks up the cloak and the bonnet, and her semi-nude form is again enveloped in the capacious mantle, while her disordered hair is gathered up hastily beneath the straw hat. Then she conniclooolks (C(O)