The Young Duchess; or, Memoirs of a Lady of Quality — page 372: what you’re looking at

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

ee See wie THE YOUNG DUCHESS; OR, MEMOIRS OF A LADY OF QUALITY. ather articles of jewellery: so that it suddenly occurred to the principal burglar that as he had once found his way into that chamber, it would be a sin not to stretch forth his hand and grasp the booty which lay almost within reach. Selina Casey—for she it was—slept soundly : but Tim Gaffney, by way of making sure doubly sure, applied the chloroform to her nostrils—and the dreamy repose of slumber at once passed into a state of trance-like uneonsciousness. Meanwhile ' Jack Peppercorn, who had followed his leader into the room, was securing the jewellery about his person, and for a moment glancing at the contents of the purse to satisfy himself as to the , value of this portion of the booty. Tim Gaffney—confident that no alarm was to be apprehended on the part of the young lady— was not disposed to quit the chamber until he had made sure that there was nothing else which _ Was worth carrying off; and a box, having the air of a jewel-casket, standing upon a side-table, caught his eye. It was locked: but by the aid ' of one of the convenient little instruments with . | which he had provided himself, he forced the lid | In the twinkling of an eye; while Jack Pepper- corn as skilfully and as rapidly played a similar part in reference to a writing-desk which was standing upon the same table. The jewel-casket coutained a few more trinkets, which were at once taken possession of: but. the contents of the writing-desk rewarded not the trouble of the rifler, Jack Peppercorn tossed out all the papers which it contained, in the hope of finding some bank-notes: but his search was vain; and as for the papers themselves, they looked more like legal documents of some species or another than those little packets of letters and billets which one might have expected to find in a young lady’s writing-desk. Without taking the trouble to re- place these documents in the repository whence he had tossed them, Peppercorn left them strown in disorder about the table, and silently followed Tim Gaffney from the chamber. They closed the door, and paused for a few mo- ments upon the landing. Tim Gaffney looked puzzled ; and his companion gazed upon him with a certain air of anxiety and perplexity. In short, the difficulty was in respect to Mr. Casey’s room. Gaffney saw that he had either made a mistake in respect to the information he had received; or else that some change had that very day been effected in reference to the sleeping apartments. In the one where he expected to find Mr. Casey, Selina had been discovered sleeping. Where now, was the miser himself to be looked for? But Tim's doubt and hesitation only lasted for a few moments: his mind was quickly made up, as he said to himself, ‘‘ What atool Iam! I must have mistook the two rooms!—so now we shall find the father in the one which I thought be- longed to the daughter.” He thereupon led the way, softly, and on tiptoe as before, to the room which he supposed was the one where he should find the usurer; and on try- ing the door he was not very much astonished to discover that it was locked. By aid of the dark lantern, he quickly ascertained that the key was in the lock: then he applied his ear to the key- hole; and listening with snepended breath, he could catch the regular heavy breathing of the occupant of that room. That the individual was TT ED I TE I I TS RIE IN OTE ET EE IT Se FN IL TEE OED ETD SPSS IT LT PS IEE GE EAI LOCOS La OCA 5D OIE TONGS ATONE. of the male sex, he was tolerably well convinced ; and he delayed no longer to commence opérations upon the door by means of the implements with which he was provided. We have already de- seribed, in a previous chapter, the process by which a door locked from the inside might be opened from the outside; and it will therefore now be sufficient to state that Tim Gaffney adopted in the present case precisely the same means which he had used to effect an entry into Squire Ponsford’s sleeping-room at The Firs. All continued still witdin the chamber, except the regular heavy breathing of its- occupant: darkness likewise prevailed in that room ; and as the curtains were drawn close over the window, no ray of moonlight could penetrate to show the burglars who the sleeper was. They carefully closed the door, and stole on tiptoe towards the bed, guided by the sounds of the sleeper’s breath- ing; and then Tim Gaffney turned the dark lan- tern so as to fling a ray of light upon the couch. The countenance of the miiser was at once recog- nised; but, before the chloroform could be applied to his nostrils, he started up—for the light had suddenly awakened one who was but little aecus- tomed to sleep heavily. Yet the cry which rose to the very brim of his lips found no farther vent ; for the eyes which thus suddenly became wide open, had not even time to twinkle ere a terrific blow, dealt by the butt-end of a pistol upon the unfortunate man’s forehead, struck him down senseless upon his pillow. It was Peppercorn who had thus been prepared for any emergency that might arise; and he received a look of ap- proval on the part of his friend Tim Gaffaey. ‘‘ Now for arummage, Jack,” hastily whispered the latter; ‘‘ and let’s look sharp about it. Hullo, now! take care, clumsy !” | This ejaculation was called forth by the fact that as Jack Peppercorn was striding across the chamber towards the toilet-table, where a bunch of keys and a purse were lying, he canght his foot in one of the window curtains, which flowed upon the carpet; so that he not only only tore it open for a moment, but likewise made the rings rattle upon the pole to which the draperies were suspended. “ All right, Tim,” said Peppercorn, closing the curtains again; ‘‘there’s no harm done:”—and with these words he proceeded to assist his friend in what the latter had been pleased to denominate | a rummage. The purse contained but little: an old greasy pocket-book, which was rapidly examined, afforded not the agreeable spectacle of bank-notes: fruit- less also was the search into a chest of drawers and a trunk, the contents of which were tossed out -upon the floor: vain likewise was the special en- deavour of Tim Gaifney to ascertain whether there were any iron safe concealed in the cup- ‘boards or in the walls, or any strong-box in ’ which the miser’s hoards were kept. Yor he had the vulgar notion which is entertained relative to all persons of a griping, hoarding, usurious cha- racter—namely, that they always secure their money-bags in the place which they think best adapted for their own personal eurvcillance. ‘Well, here’s a go, Tim!” whispered Jack Pep- percorn: ‘‘a regular floorer! Where can the old hunks have put all his tin ?” “I'm blessed if [ can tell, Jack,” answered oO Connicloooks Colin