KENILWORTH - Penn State University

Kenilworthtention, the first with a stern, suspicious, anxious cast of countenance,and Janet with folded hands, and looks which seemeddivided betwixt her desire to know the fortunes of her mistress,and her prayers to Heaven for her safety. Anthony Fosterseemed himself to have some idea of what was passingthrough his daughter’s mind, for he crossed the apartmentand took her anxiously by the hand, saying, “That is right—pray, Janet, pray; we have all need of prayers, and some of usmore than others. Pray, Janet—I would pray myself, but Imust listen to what goes on within—evil has been brewing,love—evil has been brewing. God forgive our sins, but Varney’ssudden and strange arrival bodes us no good.”Janet had never before heard her father excite or even permither attention to anything which passed in their mysteriousfamily; and now that he did so, his voice sounded in herear—she knew not why—like that of a screech-owl denouncingsome deed of terror and of woe. She turned her eyes fearfullytowards the door, almost as if she expected some soundsof horror to be heard, or some sight of fear to display itself.All, however, was as still as death, and the voices of thosewho spoke in the inner chamber were, if they spoke at all,carefully subdued to a tone which could not be heard in thenext. At once, however, they were heard to speak fast, thick,and hastily; and presently after the voice of the Countess washeard exclaiming, at the highest pitch to which indignationcould raise it, “Undo the door, sir, I command you!—undothe door!—I will have no other reply!” she continued, drowningwith her vehement accents the low and muttered soundswhich Varney was heard to utter betwixt whiles. “What ho!without there!” she persisted, accompanying her words withshrieks, “Janet, alarm the house!—Foster, break open thedoor—I am detained here by a traitor! Use axe and lever,Master Foster—I will be your warrant!”“It shall not need, madam,” Varney was at length distinctlyheard to say. “If you please to expose my lord’s importantconcerns and your own to the general ear, I will not be yourhindrance.”The door was unlocked and thrown open, and Janet andher father rushed in, anxious to learn the cause of these reiteratedexclamations.When they entered the apartment Varney stood by the doorgrinding his teeth, with an expression in which rage, and264