Beadle's Dime Novels, No. 11 — page 18: what you’re looking at

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

16 THE PRISONER OF LA VINTRESSE. CHAPTER ITI. THE GENERAL AND HIS HOUSEHOLD. GENERAL LEINDRES DE MoNsERATE was one of the gran- dees of Cuba. A little man, shrewd, and sharp of feature, with nothing noticeable about his face, save a pair of magnifi- cent black eyes, that, whep he was pleased, wore a soft beauty, rare in the eyes of man, but when deepened by passion, their _ very repose was fearful. The general prided himself upon be- longing to the ancien regime, and the scrupulous nicety of his white cravat and spotless dress-coat accorded well with his polished manners. His dwelling, though one of the handsomest and most spacious_on the island, did not look pretentious on the outside. It was within, that his ideas of magnificence all centered. The sun and the stars, could he have brought them down, could hardly have contented him with their brilliancy. The softest and most glittering fabrics, composed the hangings of his rooms, every thing was elabo- rately gilt, and yet good taste was predominant. ~ His conservatories were miracles of beauty and profusion, in which birds from every clime sported among rare, strange flowers, and fountains leaped in silvered spray to the crystal roof, keeping along the margin of the water, a continuous mu- sical vibration, that made one hold the very breath to hear. The trees along the margins of his avenues glittered with golden fruit, and in front of the house bloomed the Tahiti al- mond, the mango, and the cedar. - General De Monserate, was literally the reigning head of his little household. Even his sister, Mancha, an angular, lit- tle, black-eyed woman, who would domineer over a kitten if _ She could find nothing else, was a mere cipher in her brother’s presence. The rest of his family consisted of a niece, partly of Spanish, partly of English blood, a girl of seventeen, and a young man, whose guardian the general was, @ fiery, passion- comlicloooks.com