The Skeleton Crew; Or, Wildfire Ned — page 86: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

~~ = 80 —__— This sudden discovery startled both father, mother, and son, They stood looking at the bank scrip as ifina dream ! Sir Andrew sank in his chair, hiding his face with his hands. “There is roguery and robbery on every side,” said he, in a husky voice. ‘ Ziat packet came from the South Sea Bank, Mr, Redgill, and should have contained bank notes, ‘‘ There is some one about that establishment who is a deep-dyed scoundrel! You have succe ded in getting a situation there lately, I hear,” said the old mano with fiery eyes, “and perhaps you might guess his name, sir, ! ” he added, rising, and looking Phillip full in the face. “When the bank opens in the morning, I shall inform the directors of this beautiful little trick, and seek redress. So you have imitated Charley Warbeck’s knavery already, eh, sir, I find ? You will live to repent it.” “It will avail you little to tell the bank of your suspicions, old man,” Phillip answered, with a tri- umphant scowling look, “for I beg leave to inform you that the South Sea Bank, of which I am a clerk, suspended payment at three o’clock this afternoon ! Their notes are exactly worth nothing !”’ Sir Andrew convulsively clasped his temples ; his limbs trembled under him, and he sank upon the sofa, like an inanimate heap of humanity. He groaned despairingly, and most furiously gave vent to his Christian feelings in a volley of oaths. His wife, in tears, was kneeling by his side, and would fain console him. Phillip Redgill, demon-like, and laughing, stalked forth into the street again, triumphant and beggared, yet a villain to the heart’s core ! Sten 4 CHAPTER XXIV. CHARLEY | WARBECK’S TRIENDS—PRISON. LIFE— TRUE LOVE—-THE SURPRISE AND PARDON. Mr. Cuartes Warpeck had now been in confine- ment for more than three months, and even had become more or less reconciled to his lot. His luxuriant head of hair was cropped so closely, according to “regulations,” by the prison barber that very little capillary substance was left upon his cranium, which now looked very much like a close-worn blacking-brush. Mis highly-prized bit of whisker, upon which he had bestowed so much fondness and care—his mous- tacheos, also, which, with the aid of unguent, much combing, brushing, and Hungarian paste, had as- sumed of yore quite a fierce and military twist— were all now sacrificed to the barbarous razor. And shorn of these hirsute charms, he felt very little sorrow or humiliation when vested and offi- cially enrobed in the zebra-like suit of striped flannel jacket and trousers, which was the apparel of the prison. Although by no means a rogue, he was herded with a gang of ruffians, murderers, swindlers, pick- pockets and the very off-scourings of all the earth. And such society, it must be confessed, was a much greater punishment to his sensitive feelings than the confinement, remorse, or a thousand incon- veniences and annoyances to which he was daily and hourly subjected. Had he been of pliant nature he might soon haye become as utterly depraved as his companions, _— ak JA 67 i ‘ Sn = nS see THE SKELETON CREW 3eOR, WILDFIRE NED. But his demeanour was so gentle, his manner s0 mild, aod general deportment so humble and re- signed, that the prison authorities soon removed him from the bands of ruffians with whom he had hitherto laboured in the quarries and on the public roads, He seldom spoke, and although there was a mild resignation in his looks and bearing, his eyes had A light of honest independence about them, and his voice a firmness of tone which told of a guiltless soul suffering from some ehance misfortune over which, in a moment of temptation, it had not suffi cient control, The prison keepers and guards were unanimous in pronouncing his conduct “excellent,” and so stated it upon their several day-books and weekly reports. . The chaplain, indeed, with whom Charley had as frequent interviews as could be allowed, was loud in his praises of the gentlemanly prisoner, and when Charles had confessed to him, in conversation, the whole story of his misdemeanour, he shook him by the hand, and said, “T fully understand the whole case; it was a pity.” Low “And yet,” he added, “although paying the the penalty of what might not be considered actu- ally a theft, since you had fully determined to deliver the packet, this, your present experience, may be of incalculable good to you for your whole life.”’ Good old Dame Worthington was a frequent visitor to see “‘ her dear boy,” and was always pro- vided with a basket of considerable size, containing a plentiful supply of whatever the authorities would permit to prisoners, ! Not unfrequently, also, Miss Clara took the same _ journey, sometimes with Dame Worthington, but more often alone, for the distance was not very great, so that she could go and return very easily in a few hours, The interviews between Charles and Dame Worthington were of a painful description to both, Sometimes old Sir Richard was present likewise, by “ mere accident,” as he said. They were loud in their hopes of obtaining a pardon from the king. With the prospect of speedy relief Charley’s spirits rose, and his health began to improve so much that he soon acquired a strong, hardy, robust look, from wholesome hard labour, a good appetite, and a pure conscience, His hair began to grow again, and curl as luxuri- antly a3 ever, Miss Clara was in raptures at his improved ap- pearance, and seemed so lost in his company that she frequently came very near losing her convey- ance, which would have been not only very annoying, but must have disclosed these frequent visits to her mother, Mistress Haylark, in truth, often checked her daughter’s eloquence when discoursing of Charles and reminded her in a whisper that he was a “ con- vict,” and that ‘it would not do to have anything to say, or even to know sucha person.” | “Besides, my dear, you have good prospects in life, and money to receive when you marry ; but if your ambition doesn’t run higher than’ to love a penniless fellow like him, without character or prospects, why then you are not ‘ a Haylark,’ that’s all I can say about it,” > choo (E(0) =}