Her first action was to pull aside the curtains of her father's bed.
The bed-clothes were thrown aside in confusion, doubtless in the
action of his starting from sleep to oppose the entrance of the
villains into the next apartment. The hard mattress scarcely showed
the slight pressure where the emaciated body of the old miser had been
deposited. His daughter sank beside the bed, clasped her hands, and
prayed to heaven, in a short and affectionate manner, for support in
her affliction, and for vengeance on the villains who had made her
fatherless. A low-muttered and still more brief petition recommended
to Heaven the soul of the sufferer, and invoked pardon for his sins,
in virtue of the great Christian atonement.
This duty of piety performed, she signed to Nigel to aid her; and,
having pushed aside the heavy bedstead, they saw the brass plate which
Martha had described. She pressed the spring, and, at once, the plate
starting up, showed the keyhole, and a large iron ring used in lifting
the trap-door, which, when raised, displayed the strong box, or small
chest, she had mentioned, and which proved indeed so very weighty,
that it might perhaps have been scarcely possible for Nigel, though a
very strong man, to have raised it without assistance.
Having replaced everything as they had found it, Nigel, with such help
as his companion was able to afford, assumed his load, and made a
shift to carry it into the next apartment, where lay the miserable
owner, insensible to sounds and circumstances, which, if any thing
could have broken his long last slumber, would certainly have done so.
Pages:
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507