The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 70: what you’re looking at

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

THE SOLEMN INJUNCTION 51 her chamber. Moaning and plaintive were they, — now continuous and prolonged, then dying away, then gradually rising again, or else suddenly springing up from silence. The idea that it was a human voice grew fainter and fainter in the mind of Lady Octavian Meredith, but still she was utterly at a loss to comprehend what the source or cause of these sounds might be. She had halted just in front of the folding-doors belonging to the oratorio, or small chapel, intervening betwixt her own chamber and Clarine’s, and she was convinced that the strange unaccountable sounds came from within that chapel. She mechanically placed her hand upon the old-fashioned, rusted latch of those doors; it yielded to her touch, and one of the leaves of the tall portals opened slightly. The gust of wind which issued forth nearly extinguished Zoe’s taper, but fortunately she just shaded the light in time to save it. She pushed the door farther open; the sounds had now altogether ceased, but expecting that they would revive again, she was impelled by curiosity to enter the chapel. She found herself first of all in a little vestibule, in front of which hung a heavy curtain, whose material had once been a rich velvet, but the entire drapery was now so faded, so torn, and so tattered, that it was a mere worthless rag. It seemed as if the hand of a child might tear 1t down, so flimsy was it. It waved slowly to and for with the wind which swept through the chapel, and now once more did those strange sounds reach the ear of Lady Octavian Meredith. It was evident that the wind wafted them, but still she was at a loss to conceive their source. It was with a feeling bordering upon superstitious awe that Zoe stretched forth her hand to put aside the curtain in order to enter the oratory. A scream was well-nigh bursting from her lips when she beheld what appeared to be a couple of tall, dark figures standing just within, but a second glance showed her that they were two suits of armour standing upright, — one sustaining a lance in a perpendicular position, and both having a lifelike appearance. These panoplies were in every respect perfect. The vizors of the helmets were closed, so that it was easy to fancy the human wearers were within those rusted steel suits. The helmets, too, were surmounted with plumes, and there was something ominous and awe-inspiring in the motionless attitude of CORNICLOO© cS (CO)