[“Their faces were close to each other”] — illustration for G. W. M. Reynolds’s “The Mysteries of London” by G. Stiff

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Their faces were close to each other

G. Stiff

c. 1843

Wood engraving

Source: The Hathi Trust version of G. W. M. Reynolds’s The Mysteries of London 1.384

The illustration depicts a passage in Chapter 127.

Click on image to enlarge it and see passage illustrated below,

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit Project Gutenberg and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. — George P. Landow]

Passage illustrated

The ardent soul of that frail woman converted the immaculate clergyman into an admirer betrayed in an unguarded moment into a confession of love,—then changed him into a suitor kneeling at her feet,—and by rapid degrees carried him on, through all the mystic phases of passion, until he became a happy lover reclining on her bosom. . . .

Cecilia took up Sturm's "Reflections," and opened the book at random.

"There," she said; "it was this page which I was perusing."

She held the book in her hands as she reclined, rather than sate, upon the sofa; and the clergyman was compelled to lean over her to obtain a glimpse of the page to which she pointed.

His hair touched hers: she did not move her head. Their faces were close to each other. But not an impure thought entered his soul: still he was again excited by that thrilling sensation which came over him whenever he touched her.

She affected not to perceive that their hair commingled, but pointed to the page, and expatiated upon its contents.

In a moment of abstraction, for which he could not account, and against the influence of which he was not proof, Reginald Tracy's eyes wandered from the book to the form which reclined, beneath his glance, as it were, upon the sofa. That glance swept the well-proportioned undulations of the slight but charming figure which was voluptuously stretched upon the cushions. . . . Still he suspected not his extreme danger; and when he rose to depart, it was simply because he felt like a man flushed with wine, and who requires air. — Chapter 127, “Blandishments,” 1.386

Bibliography

Reynolds, George W. M. The Mysteries of London. vol 1. London: George Vickers, 1846. Hathi Trust Digital Library. Web. 6 October 2016.

Last modified 7 October 2016