The Young Duchess; or, Memoirs of a Lady of Quality — page 323: what you’re looking at

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

| —_—— —. THE YOUNG DUCHESS; OR, MEMOIRS OF A LADY OF QUALITY. 809 fragments thereof, having been reduced to port- able dimensions, were now being packed away in a carpet-bag, along with the garments which the unfortunate Ivan Zadouski had worn at the time when ‘he met his death. “ By the bye,” asked Ponchard, ‘after a ‘brief. interval of silence, during which he watched Grills and his wife in the performance of their hor- ‘rible work, .“‘ have you told your friend Nat Bul- mer to be Teady with his cab 2”; ““ Not such a fool!” replied Grills. “Me and the old ’ooman discussed that part of the business ‘this mornin’ arter breakfast; and .we agreed that it wouldn’t do to let Nat have the slightest means of suspecting that we had any pertickler business ‘on hand at this hour. Cos why, if so be as the carpet-bag should be fished up—though it isn’t likely, yet it may be, you know——” “ But I thought you meant to. borrow the cab,” said Ponchard, ‘‘as you have often done before, and drive it yourself, so as to put your wife down at the nearest convenient point. an ‘That part of our plan is altered,” interrupted Grills. “ It’s better to ~-have nothink to do with one’s neighbours in a business of this sort. The less reason Nat Bulmer bas to know we're busy or a-stirring this night, the better. So the old ‘ooman will go and shift for herself; and I’m blowed if she'll leave a clue behind her.” Ponchard glanced at the bloated countenance of Mrs. Grills; and he could indeed full well judge by its expression that she was not likely to flinch from the task she had undertaken. All the frag- ments of the corpse—all those mutilated remnants of the unfortunate Pole—were now consigned to. the carpet-bag, which was then locked and strapped, so that it looked just for all the world. as if it contained the wearing apparel and toilet necessaries of some person who was going on a journey. .. Well, it’s rayther heavy,” said Mrs. Grills, with a coarse chuckle as she tried its weight: “‘ but not too heavy—and there’s nothing in its appear- ance to excite suspicion.” ‘“‘ Nothing,” observed Ponchard. ‘¢Here’s the cord,” said Mr. Grills, ‘handing a closely-packed coil of clothes’-line to his wife, who at once secured it in her capacious pocket. _“t Now,” said she, “‘for my bonnet and shawl— and I’m off.” She ascended to her bed-chamber, dressed her- self for going out, and on coming down stairs again, found Ponchard in the passage waiting for her. “Tt’s all right,” he whispered: and then he . opened the front-door for the woman to issue forth. Closing it again immediately behind her, he remained in the house—while she, having assured herself that. the coast was clear, turned into an adjacent street, where she met her husband, who, in the meanwhile had stolen out of the premises by means of the back gate, with the carpet-bag in his hand. This he now consigned to his wife: not a word was spoken between them; and they at once separated,—the woman continuing her way, and the man retracing his steps to his abode. So soon as Grills returned to report that the business had progressed thus far in_ perfect security, Ponchard at once fulfilled the remainder of his own portion of the hideous compact by and bade him drive along the Strand, placing a sum of money in the fellow’s hands He then took his leave, intimating that he should call onthe morrow. . We must now follow in the footsteps of Mrs. Grills,'who was making the best of her way to- wards ;, the Westminster Road, which was close by, and which therefore in a very few minutes she gained. ‘“Cab, ma’am 2?” was the salutation which at once inet, her ears from the lips of the driver of a vehicle loitering along the kerb-stone for the pur- pose of picking up a fare. “Yes,” answered Mrs. Grills: and as'the man opened the door, she at once flung in her hideous burden, so as to dispense with his officious ser- vices. ‘Charing Cross !—and drive quick, or I shall miss the last omnibus down to Chelsea.” Up jumped the driver, and away went the cab. Mrs. Grills took care to have the money in readi-\ ness for the fare; so that the instant the vehicle stopped at Charing Cross, she stepped out with her carpet-bag in her hand, gave the man the coin, and bustled towards a couple of omnibuses that were stopping close by to take up passengers. One was for Chelsea—the other was for Padding- ton: but Mrs. Grills pretended that neither suited her—for the cab which brought her was already driving away, and the cabman was not busying himself to ascertain whether she entered the Chelsea omnibus or not. She hailed another cab, “as she wanted to overtake a Waterloo omnibus, to go to the Elephant and Castle.” She was now again in motion :—again too she had her fare in readi- ness, so that as she alighted at the corner of Wel- lington Street, she carried her carpet-bag in one hand, paid the man with the other, and at once made rapidly for the bridge. The woman was fortified with a horrible cool- ness—~a brazen hardihood that was partly natural and partly the result of the brandy which she had been drinking. She had no fear of detection: she considered that she was playing a game which was perfectly sate. As for any sensation of loathing in respect to the ‘contents of the carpet-bag, she had none; and so far as compunction was con- cerned, it was not likely that she would be troubled on this score, inasmuch as she was enabled to make matters perfectly right with her own conscience by means of the reflection that she had naught to do with the perpetration of the murder itself. It was therefore no wonder if she went about the work in a self-possessed business-like way worthy of a better cause. She held in her hand the halfpenny to pay the toll; and on reaching the toll-gate, she flung the coin upon the iron-table at which the toll- taker stood. She was then pushing onward with her burden, when behold! the gate was too nar- row :—the carpet-bag, as she held it, would not pass through ! “Now then, ma’am,” exclaimed the toll- keeper, ‘what are youupto? Dash me if you haven’t made the gate take two turns instead of one!” Mrs. Grills comprehended in a moment what the toll-keeper meant. The mechanism of the gate, communicating with an indicator inside, showed the number of passengers that passed through during the twenty-four hours ; and thus there must be a certain corresponding number of halfpence. oO COMO Colin