Jane and the Wandering Eye
Chapter One
"'If it were done,'" he began, in the hushed tone and slow pace appropriate to murderous thought, turning before our eyes like a cage'd tiger-
"when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly. If th' assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
With his surcease, success; that but this blow-"
(A long declining wail, as though uttered from within a tomb.)
"I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself,
And falls on th' other-"
The last words, whispered and yet utterly distinct, came like the gentle slip of leaves from a November bough; and his lips had scarcely ceased to move, when the applause that was his due rang forth in strenuous tumult. Every throat swelled with praise, and the madness of cheering all but blotted out Hugh Conyngham's gentler thanks. The actor's brilliant eye, and the fever of his cheek, spoke with firmer eloquence, however; and I read in his looks a grateful understanding. For such an one, as yet so young in the life of the s ... read full excerpt from Jane and the Wandering Eye ebook
