espial

So they held their peace, and arranged between them to keep her in watch and close espial, that they might catch her unawares.

From The Decameron, Volume II by J. M. (James Macmullen) Rigg

Presently he moved forward, and, with head still bent, approached the lower end of the garden, where, in a wall higher than that over which Goldthorpe made his espial, there was a wooden door.

From The House of Cobwebs and Other Stories by George Gissing

At last, safe from every chance of espial, she sat down again in her chair before the desk, leaned her elbows on the desk, and looked desperately, miserably, into the joyous face of the picture.

From Stories That End Well An Adventure in Altruria——Through the Terrors of the Law——The Real Thing——The Old Partisan——Max—Or His Picture——The Stout Miss Hopkins' Bicycle——The Spellbinder——The Object of the Federation——The Little Lonely Girl——The Hero of Company G——A Miracle Play by Octave Thanet

It was even possible, he thought, that, if she had not herself seen Cecily, some one in her employment had made the espial for her.

From The Emancipated by George Gissing

The lover's endless minutes slowly pass'd; The dame return'd, and whisper'd in his ear To follow her; with aged eyes aghast From fright of dim espial.

From Keats: Poems Published in 1820 by M. (Margaret) Robertson