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OR,

THE NOVICE OF CORPUS DOMINI.

A Romance.

IN FOUR VOLUMES.

BY

LOUISA SIDNEY STANHOPE,

AUTHOR OF

MONTBRASIL ABBEY; THE BANDIT'S BRIDE; STRIKING
LIKENESSES; THE AGE WE LIVE IN, &c. &c.

This is an act so newly horrid,

So ghastly a contrivance of revenge,

That fiends themselves would start at the proposal.

VOL. I.

LEE.

LONDON:

PRINTED AT THE

Minerba-Press,

FOR A. K. NEWMAN AND CO.

(Successors to Lane, Newman, and Co,)

LEADENHALL-STREET.

1810.

[blocks in formation]

DI MONTRANZO.

CHAP. I.

Hark! heard ye that sigh?

Solemn and deep, it seem'd like misery's tone;

-and hark!—a groan!

HERBERT.

SHRILL and piercing was the shriek which proceeded from the chamber of Adelheida; the arched galleries and spiral turrets of Montranzo re-echoed the sound, and again sank to their own deep stillness. The Castle clock had already announced the approach of Midnight, and her ebon wand in darkness veiled creation's picture. Huberto paced the corridor: thrice he paused;

VOL. I.

and

and thrice, in dire expectancy, he listened, with eager, unbreathing trepidation. "Adelheida!" he articulated; "my-my Adelheida!" and, in the impulse of agony, struck his clenched hand against his forehead. "Dreadful, dreadful moment! tender, suffering, patient, excellent Adelheida, how shall I preserve the secret! how all I bury my despair! how shall I conceal the distraction of a husband! Ah, my benefactor, injured, generous father of my love, how has the child of your bounty, the orphan of your charity, requited the obligations of gratitude! how has he forgotten the distinctions of birth, the disparity of fortune! Merciful Heaven!" rushing forward; for again, lingering, intermitting, yet fainter, reechoed the shrieks of anguish. He paused not till he reached the extremity of the gallery; sobs, loud and heavy, wrung by the convulsions of nature, broke the grave's deep stillness which prevailed, and betrayed the torture of the sufferer. His

hand

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