Its door hung upon a broken
and single hinge, unclosed--leaving, however, so small an aperture, that
it might be difficult to account for their entrance.
There, amid the dust and mystery of time-worn household trumpery, old
saddles, broken bridles, and more than one dismembered harness, they
came to a pause, and were enabled now to perceive the realization in
part of her apprehensions. A small lantern, the rays of light from which
feebly made their way through a single square in front, disclosed to the
sight the dim forms of the two assassins, moving upward to the
contemplated deed of blood.
The terrors of Lucy, as she surveyed their approach, were great; but,
with a mind and spirit beyond those commonly in the possession of her
sex, she was enabled to conquer and rise above them; and, though her
heart beat with a thick and hurried apprehension, her soul grew calmer
the more closely approached the danger. Her alarm, to the mind of Ralph,
was now sufficiently justified, as, looking through a crevice in the
narrow apartment in which he stood, he beheld the malignant and
hell-branded visage of Rivers, peering like a dim and baleful light in
advance of his companion, in whose face a partial glimmer of the lamp
revealed a something of reluctance, which rendered it doubtful how far
Munro had in reality gone willingly on the task.
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