The Touchstone of Fortune: Being the Memoir of Baron Clyde, Who Lived, Thrived, and Fell in the Doleful Reign of the So-called Merry Monarch, Charles IIMajor, Charles
History
The Touchstone of Fortune: Being the Memoir of Baron Clyde, Who Lived, Thrived, and Fell in the Doleful Reign of the So-called Merry Monarch, Charles II
Major, Charles
Great Britain -- History -- Charles II, 1660-1685 -- Fiction
"Yes, yes, I see," returned Frances.
"If you go down the steps, you will find a door to which I shall give you
the key. Enter and you will be in an empty room, the walls of which are
hung with worn tapestries taken from the inn. On one side of the room you
will see a tapestried panel bearing the image of St. George and the
dragon. Behind the panel is a concealed door, seemingly a part of the
wall, but if you will allow the tapestry to hang and will press the eye
of the dragon, the door will open and you may find--your St. George."
Frances caught Betty in her arms, crying, "Let me go to him at once, at
once!"
Betty and Frances went downstairs, and after waiting a minute or two,
Betty said, "Now there is no one in the courtyard, and you may cross
unseen."
Frances hastened across the courtyard and down the cellar steps. On
reaching the outer door of which Betty had spoken, she halted in fear.
But she dared not retreat, so inserting the key, she entered.
In the dim light of the room the images of faded knights, angels, saints,
and dragons seemed to stand like a small army of ghosts ready to deny her
passage. But soon she discovered the figure of St. George, pressed the
eye of the dragon, lifted the tapestry, and entered the room of a
printing shop.
While Frances had been standing in hesitation before the figure of the
saint, she had heard with some alarm a rumbling noise in the room she was
about to enter. The rumbling is destined, in my opinion, to go down the
line of the ages, an instrument of untold good to mankind, for it was the
rumbling of a printing-press.
Standing at the press, lifting and lowering it by means of a foot
lever, and feeding it with broad strips of paper, stood a man in his
shirt-sleeves. At an inclined desk, a type-case, stood another man
setting type, close beside the press. He, also, was in his shirt-sleeves
and was much older and stouter than the man at the press.
The rumbling had drowned the slight noise occasioned by the opening of
the door, so that Frances stood waiting a full minute before she was
observed. The stout man at the type-case was the first to see her, and
when he turned, she asked, trembling:--
"I am seeking Master Hamilton. Shall I find him here?"
The man at the press then turned quickly to Frances. His face was
smooth shaven, but was almost covered with printers' ink, giving him the
appearance of a blackamoor. The stout man at the type-case, failing to
respond, and the other being apparently too surprised to speak, Frances
went to the blackamoor and, standing beside the press, was about to
repeat her inquiry.
The type-case, press, and a small table, on which lay a bundle of white
paper, all stood huddled together in the centre of the room, occupying a
space of perhaps eight feet square.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account