The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 95: what you’re looking at

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

76 REYNOLDS’ WORKS Christina, and quickly averting her eyes from the object of her vivid interest, she affected to bestow her attention on the more monstrous serpents. ‘To me, my dear Christina,” said the princess, “ the aspect of the greater portion of these species of reptiles is more or less familiar, and if you had lived a few years in my native country, you would have become sufficiently accus- tomed to the same spectacles as to be able to look upon them now without so strange a shudder as that which I perceive has just swept through your form.”’ ‘I pray your ladyship to pardon me,” said our heroine; ‘‘ do not deem me foolishly weak, if I assure you that I can remain here no longer to look upon these reptiles.’ ‘Come then, Christina; we will seek some other and more agreeable objects of interest. Sagoonah,’’ added the princess, addressing the ayah in their own native tongue, ‘you can follow at your leisure if you have any particular wish to remain here awhile and contemplate these creatures, most of which must, however, be sufficiently familiar to ou.” ““T will follow almost immediately, my lady,” responded Sagoonah. ‘‘ Monsters of this particular species ’’ — and she looked toward the python— ‘I have never seen before.”’ The Princess Indora hurried Christina from the ‘snake- room, and as they passed forth, a glow of triumph and satisfaction again thrilled through Sagoonah’s form. She watched them until they disappeared from her view by suddenly diverging from the straight path leading from the snake-house along the back of the canal; then she ha- stened to the door, she issued forth a few paces, her eyes were rapidly swept around, no one was nigh, and she hurried back into the reptile-room. A sinister fire burned in her large dark eyes as she approached the case containing the deadly cobra. He darted his head somewhat forward, as if with an inveterate malignity longing to spring at her, but yet with the instinctive knowledge that there was a barrier of glass between them and that he would only sustain a hurt by dashing himself ineffectually against that transparent frontage. ‘The calm intrepidity of ten thousand amazons was concentrated in the soul of Sagoonah then. She glanced at the arrangements of the cases; she saw that the glass ) ) ECORNICLIOOKS (E(0)