The Mysteries of London, Vol. IV — page 65: what you’re looking at

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&& “Hooray !” vociferated Frank Curtis. “Hur-rah-ah !” thundered Captain O’Blunderbuss. “Tt is indeed a subject for gratulation,” said Mr. Styles. “The next point I wish to speak to yon about is the prospectus, a proof of which I have 1¢e- ceived from the printer, It would have been all ready for issue by this time, only my interview with the Railway Lion was prolonged far beyond the hour at which I had expected to be back in the City again ;— and you may be sure that I was in no hurry when engaged with him,” added Mr. Bubbleton Styles, smiling significantly. “ Here, you see,” he continued, displaying the proof of the flaming prospectus which he had drawn up,—* here is the glorious document. It is sufficient to set the very Thames on fire. Never were such magnificent promises—never such brilliant hopes held out! And look—thirty-two names of the most eminent Aldermen, merchants, Common Council- men, and gentlemen——” “ Why—half of them have got F.R.S. to the end of their names!” ejaculated Frank Curtis: “what the deuce does that inean? And, by Jove!” he cried, now completely beside himself with astonishment,— this ¢s strange! Tlere’s the ‘Secretary, Francis Curtis, Esq, PRS. ILA, ALS.L.S,, de. do!’ My dear friend Styles-——” “‘Patience—patience, Frank,” said that gentleman, with bland complacency. “Those initials stand for various honorary distinctions which give respectabi- lity to the name. For instance, you are represented as being a Fellow of the Royal Society, a Master of Arts, and a Jfember of Several Learned Socisties. God bless you, my dear fellow! even the very et ceteras have their weight in a Raikvay Prospectas.” “ But I am nothing of all that you describe!” cjacu- lated Frank Curtis, surveying Mr. Styles with an ox- pression of amazement that was quite ludicrous. “JT am well aware of that,” answered the City gen- tleman, coolly: “neither are half the Aldermen or Common-Councilmen F.R.S.’s or any thing else—ur - less it is A.S.S.s, But no Railway scheme can be got up without this kind of gammon—for that is pre- cisely the word; and an Alderman who would send a poor devil to the treadmill for ob’aining goods under false pretences if he only represented himself as Jones instead of Noakes, will himself assume any honorary distinction that is calculated to gull the public. Look at Alderman Higgs Higgs, for example’s sake! Glance over the list of different Railway sclremes— and amongst the Provisional Committee-men belonging to exch you will see ‘Higgs Iffiggs, Esq., Alderman, E.R.S., de. de’ ven that consummate ass, Alder- man Sun, has dubbed himself in a similar fashion ;— and therefore I see no reason why Frank Curtis, Esq., or Captain Gorman O’Blunderbuss, should not be an E.R.S. likewise.” This explanation was highly satisfactory to the two gentlemen last mentioned; and on the Strength of it they drank bumpers to the success of the projected enterprise. “T have duly registered the Company,” observed Mr. Styles; ‘and I have had an interview with Dum- merley, the Engineer, this afternoon! Oh! [I can assure you that I have not been idle. Dummerley is ready to swear that hé has surveyed the whole line from the south of England to the north of Scot- land——” « But how is that possible?” demanded Frank, again lost in astonishment: for, crafty and cunning as he was in petty trickeries, he was altogether bewildered in THE BYSTERIES OF LONDON. the mazes of colossal swindies. “You only thought of the plan a few days ago—and Dummerley would not have even had time to travel the whole distance thero and back post haste—much less to survey it leisurely.” “You are quite green in these matters, Frank,” observed Mr. Styles. “Green!” ejaculated Captain O’Blunderbuss: “be Jasus! the Imerald Isle itself isn’t so green as my frind Frank in cer-r-r-tain respicts. But it’s ather enlichtening him ye are, Misther Sthyles—and_ he’ll be all the betther for the faching.” “Dummerley is a regular good fellow, I can assure you,” resumed the promoter. “‘ You will be the En- ginecr, said I to him this afternoon: J told Podgson that you would.’—* Most certainly,’ horeplied.—* And in case the Dill should be opposed in Commitice, you will be ready to swear that you particularly surveyed the part of the line relative to which objections may be raised ??—* Oh? of course,’ was his answer.—‘ And you will also swear that your plans are perfecily correct ?’—*As c matter of course,’ he again replied.— ‘ Well, then,’ said I, ‘here’s a five pound note for you; and now faillto work as hard as you can to get all the plans up in such @ business-like way that they may look legitimate.’—Dummerley accordingly took himself off as happy as a prince; and thus every thing goes on completely in our favour. But it is now three minutes to fives and at five preciscly I step into the Hackney omnibus at the Flower-Pot,” added Mr. Styles, looking at his watch for the hundredth time during the last quarter of an hour. Frank Cartis and Captain O’Blunderbuss took the hint and their departure; and the promoter of a scheme for raising millions treated himself with a six- penny ride in an omnibus as far as Cambridge Heath Gate, in which suburban quarter this great man re~- sided in a six-reomed house, including the kitchens, or CHAPTER CXXYVI. ELUCIDATIONS. At the conclusion of the hundred and twenty-fourth chapter we asked whether Charles Hatfield would suc- ceed in crushing the sentiments of curiosity that had been awakened within him? Alas! no—it was impossible! His better feelings, aroused by the startling remem- brance of the assurances he had respectively given his father and mother, had for a few hours triumphed over that insatiable longing to penetrate into the mys- teries of the past:—but when he again found himself alone in his chamber, in the silence of night, he could not subdue the thoughts which forced themselves upon him, and which were all connected with those mys- teries. Thus was it that we again find him pacing his chamber while others slept,—pacing up and down in an agitated and excited manner, and maintaining a desperate struggle within his own soul. For the irresistible temptation which beset him, was to ponder once more and deeply on the incidents of his early days, and to endeavour to retrieve from the abysses of his memory any other recollections that might be slumbering there. For the sake of tho pledge given to his mother—for the sake of the assttre ance made to his father, he strove,—yes—sincerely, ardently he strove—to vanquish that temptation: yot a (CO) 5} GIOOKS (CO) >