The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 318: what you’re looking at

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

CHRISTIAN’S FIRST DAY 237 sat down to ponder over all he had just read. He thought to himself what a kind-hearted man the present duke must be to have endeavoured to shield his brother from the dreadful imputation which rested against him at the time; for that Hugh had made such endeavour was duly recorded in the proceedings of the inquest. While Christian was thus giving way to his reflections, wondering too what had ulti- mately become of Bertram and Eliza, an imperceptible drowsiness stole over him, —a drowsiness which blended, as it were, with his reverie, imparting a dreaminess to the tenor of his thoughts. If he had been reading at the time, he would no doubt have endeavoured to shake it off; but as he was reclining back in a cushioned armchair, with no occupation for his eyes, but, on the contrary, his outward vision being turned inwardly, so to speak, in the contempla- tion of the incidents of the past, he made no attempt to struggle against that insidiously stealing drowsiness. It deepened, and in a few minutes the youth was wrapped in profound slumber. That sleep should thus have come over him was scarcely to be wondered at, for on the previous day as well as on that of which we are writing he had under- gone considerable excitement of the mind on account of the change which had taken place in the condition of his sister and himself. However, be the cause whatsoever it might, Christian slumbered in that large armchair, and this occurred a little after ten o’clock in the evening. How long he slept he could not immediately tell, but he gradually wakened up to the knowledge that the place was involved in pitchy darkness, and that voices were speaking there. His first sensation was one of physical cold, blended with mental alarm. Lamp and fire had both gone out, hence the chill which he naturally experienced in his limbs; and his alarm was occasioned by the fact that he could not immediately recollect where he was. This dimness and bewilderment of the mind’s perception was, however, transient, and at the very instant that he remembered how he had fallen asleep in the Duke of Marchmont’s library, he recognized the voice of the duke himself. ‘“ What nonsense! Are you afraid to be in the dark? I tell you there is no one here. It is impossible. Why, man, it is past midnight, and all the household are in bed, except the hall porter who let us in, and my valet, whom, as you com (-) LOOKS (C(O)