The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 164: what you’re looking at

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

THE BARONET AND THE HANGMAN 1438 beneath. Above her flushing countenance sat the widow’s cap, of as snowy a purity as the collar upon her bosom; but instead of setting off to advantage a face where Christian resignation was blended with a soft melancholy, its vivid whiteness threw out in stronger contrast the cheeks that were thus crimsoned with the mantling glow of consuming desire. The heart of that woman was a volcano at this moment, as she gloated upon all the refinements of sensuality that were scattered around. Presently she paused before a mirror stretching from the floor to the ceiling, and reflecting every object in the gallery upon its polished surface. Heavy crimson draperies hung on each side of this mirror, and festooned along the top, so that no gilded framework was visible, and the effect thus produced was that of the prolongation of the gallery to a considerable length. Ernestina caught a glimpse of herself in this resplendent mirror, and was about to turn away when she was struck with the deep crimson of her counte- nance, and feeling the fires that were burning in her bosom, she stood to observe their effect upon her features. ‘The face,” she thought within herself, ‘is too faithful a reflex of the human heart. Were any one to see me now, it would be impossible to prevent all my secret thoughts from being probed to the very bottom. Ah! the countenance is indeed a tablet — ”’ But at this moment Ernestina gave a sudden start as if a viper had bitten her, and the colour fled from her cheeks as rapidly as darkness supervenes in a room at night when the candle is suddenly extinguished. For, as she stood gazing upon the mirror, she was struck with the sudden apparition of a figure stealing in from the door at the other extremity of the room, and a mortal terror at once seized upon the miserable woman, as she recognized the too well-known form and features of the public execu- tioner. Cconniclooolkks (C(O)