Black Bess; or, the Knight of the Road — page 241: what you’re looking at

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

as &€onfonnd it!” he said. will spoil it all! culty. ¥ ‘> “4 * ‘ a , b i * cy eee, va e “DT a at ae age . * 2 “An 4s. in ee “ 7 ae kn, as Mia? Uf ae. Pe Pe Sel. ed na 4 a ph, 44 Pig ae a tm £4 tye x ee BN ates Tees Taha a oh | LA A ‘ a + 4 < : Ny * *p yA “3 7 Be +. a p . . ete We a ae ae So Pe te 4 ’ c raei 'e: Fy, roe rn ee Ae a “} 7% ry > Pee B ae Bae of 8 A ‘ Pom 4 + i ’ ‘ . + 4 “T forgot that my moustache ! Who ever saw a constable with such an appendage? No, no—it will sever do to remain so! I must find some means or other of getting ® removed.’ Phis was likely to be a matter of no ordinary diffi- It was necessary that if should be removed at onoa, for he could not te’’ how gecn he should be met by some one or other. He could not remove * himself, and the hour was so late a one tnat there was a very slight probability indead that he would be able to find any barber’s shop pen, even if he had telt inclined to run the risk of entering: one. CHAPTER CMLXXYV\. IN WHICH DICK TURPIN MANAGES TO GET RID OF AIS MOUSTACHE IN A VERY CLEVER MANNER. Bor the more Dick Turpin pondered over this matter, the more he felt the necessity of having his moustache ve- moved. It was altogether incongruous with his disguise. He had just reached this point in his reflections, when he caught sight, at some little distance off up the street along which he was hastening, a feeble gleam of light. On coming nearer, what was his surprise to perceive that the light actually came from a barber’s shop. He paused outside irresolutely. * Really it seemed as though chance had directed his foot- steps to that very spot, and he was conscious that if he allowed this opportunity to slip by him he would not have ‘another presented to him. Nevertheless, he could not make up his mind to walk boldly into the shop; but he stopped outside the window, and by peeping in between the various objects it con- tained, endeavored to get a view of the interior of the shop. While he was so engaged, he heard a footstep near at hand. _-He looked up and caught sight of a thin, little-sized man, with a remarkable-looking, pointed chin, approach- ing. He ran into the shop in what was certainly a most furious manner, and no sooner had he entered it and elanced all around than he uttered several straage cries, all of which were in the strongest degree indicative of violent rage. Dick was amused at his proceedings, and continued to watch him with great anxiety. “T’ll be the death of him!” said this man, as he pulled off his coat, and flung it down in a passion—“T’ll be the death of him! LTU—I’i——” He stopped, and made a frantic rush to a drawer, from which, in the twinkling of an eye, he produced a razor, which he began to strap rapidly on the palm of his hand. The noise he had made evidently attracted the atien- tion of some other persons in the house, for just then an inner door was timidly opened to the extent of about a couple of inches, and a woman’s face appeared. sire barber—for such no doubt he was—uitered a howl. “Where’s that villain Sam?” he roared—“ where is he ?—where’s he gone ?” “Tor, Mr. Goodge, how in the worl? suould I know ? He’s such an awful boy thatis!” replled tne woman, in aremarkably mild tone of voice, which contrasted strongly with the barber’s infuriated avcents. *T’ll be the death of him!” he repeated. ‘ Let mé‘ask you, ma’am, whether I did not leave him in my shop with particular directions as to what he wastodo? Didn't lI say that as soon as nine o’clock came he was to shut up tha shop and go home—didn’t I tell him all that? “T believe you did, sir?” “Of course I did! Ard Low vere [ come home at Vhis anearthly hour and find the sksp staring wide open, and ihat villain nowhere to be found. But let me get hold of _ kim—only let me get hold of him, and@I’li finish him!” The barber accompanied these words with such a fiendish lvok, that the woman, thoroughly alarmed, vanished immediately from the door. “Then the cause of the shop being opened is ex- plained,” thought Dick, who had heard every word of this __-.ovyersation. “ What an odd chance! I'll warrant there's 1x48, ~ ~ THE ENIGHT OF THE ROAD. not another barber’s shop open in London. [Il enter here at all risks’; perhaps in his excited state I can work upon him a little.” With these words, Dick approached the door, and only just in time, for the barber was beginning to think about closing his shop. Dick stood just on the threshold. and projected only = head and the upper part of his body into the shop. “ G@ood morning—good morning !” he said, assuming a peculiarly vacant smile, and making sn odd grimaco— ‘‘eood morning, Mr. Goodge! I am the Prine of Wales. How do you do, eh? Seen the moor lately ?” To say that the barber was astonished by Dick’s sudden appearance and his extraordinary words would not be to say much. So overcome was he that he could do nothing but stagger back a few paces,and goggle his eyes Biahtinlly: Na availed himself of the opportunity to slip inside the shop. He closed the door behind him, vod as he did se he noticed that the key was sticking in the lock. He turned it round, and removed it at once, then coolly consigned it to his pocket. “Murder !” gaid the barber, in a faint, exhausted voice —-‘‘oh, murder! This is a madman escaped from some asylum! What shall I do?” Dick certainly simulated the manner of an msane person to great perfection. The barber was completely deceived by it. Putting on a most mysterious aspect, and extending one hand before him, Dick approached the barber, who gradually retreated until he was brought up by the wall, and found himself unable to go any further. Then Dick took hold of him by the collar of his coat, . and placed his lips close to his ear. “Hush!” he said ‘Do you wish to know what must be done ?” ‘* No—no! ‘‘T have made a woe Jos I repeat it—a vow. that the first man I met 5 shave him.” With these words, Dick pounced suddenly apon a rasor which his keen eyes had detected lying close at hand. He flourished it in the air in a most alarming manner, as he continued, with additional excitement: “Come on, Iam ready—I am armed! Sit down, and I will shave you as you were never shaved before !” The prospect of this operation horrified the barber be- yond all measure. The bare thought of sitting down in a chair at the mercy of a lunatic who held a razor was too horrible to bear reflection. “No, no, my good sir,” he said, with chattering teeth and trembling knees—“ my very good sir-———” “‘ Wretch !—dastard! do you know what you are say- ing ?” cried Dick, pretending all at once to fall into an ungovernable rage. ‘Is that the way you address me, you miserable, chin-scraping wretch ?” “TI beg your pardon,” said the barber, who, having heard that the best way of treating lunatics was to comply as far as possible with all their wishes—‘‘I humbly beg your pardon, your Royal Highness! I hope you will for- give me!” “Ah, good!” said Dick. chair with you at once |” “But, your Royal Highness,” said the barber, bowing and scraping at every word, though ke was so horribl afraid that he scarcely knew what he said, ‘“‘may I ca your Royal Highness’s attention to the fact that I am already clean sliaved—that there is not so much as the ghost of a bristle anywhere on my face?” “No matter,” said Dick—‘the razor will go all the more easily ” : “ But cha not your Royal Highness say something about being shaved yourself? Suppose, now, you allowed me to remove that untidy moustache on your lip ?” “Yes, yes—of course!” said Dick, ‘That's what I meant |! ow dare yon dispute my commands? Quick —come here at once! I have no time to lose!” These were welcome words indeed for the barber, and he made up his mind to shave his disagreeable customer as quickly as he could, and then trust to his ingenuizy te get him out of the shop. It was ould either shave me or let me “Now, then, down in the )(0V0)| (E(@) ULC '@® S.C (0)