Beadle's Dime Novels No. 3: Myra, the Child of Adoption — page 64: what you’re looking at

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

! 62 MYRA, THE CHILD OF ADOPTION. in hunting down the sterner game Ross played the spy himself. The plantation which Ross occupied was the property of his patron, and in the dwelling Mr. Clark had always kept his own separate apartments. On returning home that night he entered a little library belonging to these apartments, and opening an escritoir had taken from thence an ebony box, in which were his most valuable papers. After placing the will therein he had carefully locked the escritoir and the room before retiring to his chamber for the night. At two o’clock the next morning there shone in this library a faint light. By the escritoir stood Ross softly trying a key in the lock, and behind him upon a table rested a dark lan- tern, so placed that all its rays fell in one direction, leaving most of the room. in darkness. WNoiselessly the key was turned, and without a sound was the escritoir opened, and the ebony box dragged forth. The will was the first paper that presented itself on open- ing the box. Ross took it up, seated himself in Mr. Clark’s easy chair, and began to read; nervously gluncing over the pages, and starting from time to time if the slightest sound reached his ear. “ As I thought!” he said, in a stern, low voice, dashing his hand against the paper till the sheets rustled loud enough ‘to make him start. “Thus has one day undone the work of years. I knew that something had warped his heart against me !” Thoughtfully, and with a frowning brow, Ross folded up the will, laid it in its depository, and secured it as before. At first he was tempted to take the light from his lantern, and consume it at once, but the rash thought was abandoned after a moment’s reflection, for there was danger at any hour that Mr. Clark might detect the fraud and place another will be- yond his reach. With his duplicate key and ready access to all the apartments, there was little to dread while the will remained under that roof. The moment every thing was safe, Ross closed his lantern, and sat for more than an hour musing in the darkness. When he came forth, there was a deep and gloomy cloud upon his _brow; the pale moonbeams fell upon it through the windows, as he passed to his own room, but the moonbeams failed to comicloooks. com