I'm reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein written in 19th century. I'm not sure whether the sentence I just encountered (bold text below) is a misprint or an example of archaic English and I'm trying to figure it out.
Volume 1, Chapter 7:
A flash of lightning illuminated the object, and discovered its shape
plainly to me; its gigantic stature, and the deformity of its aspect,
more hideous than belongs to humanity, instantly informed me that it
was the wretch, the filthy daemon to whom I had given life. What did
he there? Could he be (I shuddered at the conception) the murderer
of my brother?
Best Answer
Today we would say "What was he doing there?"
In older English, any verb might invert with its subject to form a question:
The restriction of inversion to auxiliaries, with do support where needed, developed only gradually, and the older practice lingered until the early 19th century.