Page:The Mysterious Warning - Parsons (1796, volume 1).djvu/143

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him start from his chair, and threw his wife into a trembling fit.—"What, or where does that groan come from?" cried she. He was about to answer, when a second, still more alarming, was followed by those words from the same voice Ferdinand had twice before heard:—Fly, fly from her arms, as you would avoid sin and death!"—Claudina shrieked and fainted. Her husband rang the bell for assistance. She relapsed from one fit into another for several hours; all was fright and confusion, for he did not choose to account for her disorder among the servants: One, however, observed these were worse fits than she had lately, because they lasted longer.

"What then," asked Ferdinand, "has she before now had such seizures as this?"

"Yes, Sir," answered the servant, "a short time ago, and my master told us, as to be sure you know, that Madame was often troubled with them."

This information surprised him, the conclusion in his own mind was, that she had