The Mysteries of the Court of London, Vol. 5 — page 88: what you’re looking at

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

THE MSTERIES OF THE COURT. , singular contrivance—namely, a little trap-door of a foot sangre, made of.a piece of wood not much thicker t ® good was retained by two little hinges on one side; and as & it shut. were taken away tho little trap-door wanld drop downward; and it must lHkewise be ufiderstood that the spring was so slight that while it was but just’strong enough to sustain the door, the slight- est weight touching*the door on the tippermost ¢side would make i¢ sink down. Butthis was not quite all; for a little bell was suspended to the rafters close by thé trap-door; and by another simple contrivance it was so arranged that if the trap-door opened by being prosded downward it caused this bell to ring: Kvery night, | tiilng to rest, Rebecca Patoh opened the littl trap-door; and thrusting her arm through to the roof, drew in three small Kaucers.: One ghe filled | with water—the second with tares. or ‘yhrohed peas—and the third with salt; then having dove this, shosput the sauceré out tipon the roof agit in a little sort of wooden récedé or ‘hatch, the object of which was thérely tooprévent the salt | Cat: . lage, bat completely isolated therefrom. The from being daturated with wet in. tage of rain. This was Rebecca's | fulfilled with the utmost tegularity, = = —_. We may now continuesour talé: It was two o'clock in the morning, when Beoky Patch vas suddenfy startled from her aléep by the tinkling of the little bell; and though its’ sound could scarcely have awakened any person under ordi- nary circumstances, yet by dint of habit the least note thereof would arouse up Israel Patoh's daughter as effectually aa if a cannon were fired close by her ears. Springing from her couch, Becky inatantaneoualy lighted « gandle, and coaxingly extended her arm towards a: pigeoti which now appeared perched ou the upper rail of a clWir immedigtely under the Httle trap-door. The bird, with Instinctive tametess, seemed to recognise a known friend; and immediately flew on the woman's wrist. Shé caressed and ad- dreased it in fondling terma: then, she refreshed it with wator—and having done this, looked be- neath its wing. Thence stie unfastoned the little scrap of paper which was tied there; and calen- lating for a moment the day of the month, mut- tored to herself, *‘ The letter L is the key.” ‘Then she hastily glaced over the contents of the “billet, upon which she made s cross with a pen; and having forthwith folded it up again, she re- placod it under tho bird's wing. This being done, she gave the feathered messenger some: peculiar kind of food which she always. had in readiness in the room; and the little carrier being thus re- freshed, was put forth through the trap-door again. It immediately took wingund sped awsy on its important errand. : “Twenty minutes to two wha the bird was sent off," muttered Rebecca to herself: then as she took an old silver watch g ‘andor ber pillow and saw that it was now about ten minutes past two, she observed, * Thére's plenty of time.” She then put on sonie clothing, and descending the stairs, proceeded to the little room where Ker father al ; me Well, w exclaimed Israel, Patoh, as “ Well, what is it?” he started up in his couch. “ee stout catdboard. It opened dowpward, it had a very slight ; and flexible steel spring fixed underneath to keep As @ tyatter of sourse, if this spring before ré-. nightly duty, did which she It. was kept 75 “ A fnongage,” responded his daughtet...“* Lad Beas has sent it. You: must have a horse in readi. ness. The despatch ig dated twonty minutes to two—and it is now nearly a quarter past.” “ What a time the bird has been in coming !" ejaculated Patch. “No euch thing,” rejoined his daughter. “‘ The dove was here in twenty minutes after it was sent on the wing; and that is deing morc than a mils a minute, taking the distanco from Lady : Bens'a to thfa place. It is mo that havo dolayed Somewhat in coming down, as I saw that thore was no hurry. Besides, I had to feed the bird— . “Well, you can go up to bed again. dress myself, get the horse in readiness, and wait.” . Rebecca Patch lofy her fapher the candluwhich | “she had brodght with her ® bad bt wv ; and then remouyting the stairs, gained her attic and lay down to r%st onceridr, | Rapid as the fight of that pigeon which bore the mystérious billet beneath its wing, must wo transport the reader fo anothor public-houso much farther dlong the samo road. Indeed, this latter was aout four miles on the Jiondon sido of terbury.. It waa eitdated on the summit of ton Hill, at no gréat distance from a vil- sign raided upon the top of a tall-post,; was daubed with auch az effigy of a Aed Dragon as tho peinter’s imagination had suggested. Tho house was of sombre and dilapidated appearance, with 60 susplclous b look that no solitary traveller with a woll-filled ptirse in his pooket would choose such @ hostel as a®resting-placo for tho night. by mah and his wife named Dean; atid they, asthe reader may suspect, wero not a whit more particular how they made money than either Salomon Patch in London or his brother Tsvael, nea? Gravesond. They had s son—a lad of about eighteeb, whose Obristian name was Joseph: Ho was an intelligent, shrowd, keon fallow, having well profited by his parents’ example in such wrong-sided experiences of tho world as he was lijeby to glean therefrom. This lad slept by himself up in a garret—or rather a sort of loft on the top of the house; and here might be observed precisely the same curious apparatas fixed.in the roof as we have deyeribed in reference to the attic at tho Dancing Bear. om ee: qe PE ewe eae 25s I will | er ye peewee es 4 eee - —_—s a s There was the Kittle trap-door Hghtly sustained ; by thy eteol spring—-the small bell—and the . putch with thee three saucers on tho tiles outside. With the saine regularity as Rebeeva | Patch observed in replenishing tlfose saucers, did Joe Dean perform the eamo duty; and with | equal sensiffvencss was he ready to start up from hia: slumbers at the slightest summons of the metailid tongue of the monitor-bell. A+ove tho head. of his trugkle-bed a common pinchbeck watch was suspended by a dirty riband to a naif fastendd in the wall. ‘The hands of that watch indicated that it was exactly half-paat two o'clock, on that same night —or rather morning—of which we are speaking, when Joe Dean was suddenly awakened from his sleep by the tinkling chime of tho bell. He started A lighted his candle, and took the messenger- urd whieh having alighted on the trap-door, had eink down with it into the room. Then ensued precisely, the same process as we have already do- »% ‘ a eee ECOMRniclacae SS (CO)