The Mysteries of the Court of London, Vol. 5 — page 89: what you’re looking at

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

ane Gah.. 76 * acribed at the Dancing Bear. Joe Dean, gaving first of all given the bird somo water, de- tached tho billet from beneath ite wing—road its contents—mado a mark ‘upon it with a pen— folded it up again--and attached it once more to the pirtion of the feathered messenger. Having fed and caressed the dovo, he let it loose again through the trap-door ; and away it sped on the third and last stago of its aerieb journey. The lad, having noticed the time by his watch, there- upon went down stairs and communicated to his father the nature of the message which had just ~ been roceived. ° Again must we transport the reader's attention | to some distanes’s and this time we halt at Dover. od = @ ae ees, OPP Ts tee es <n There, in one of the principal streets, was 4 tavern ,of respectable appearance, bearing the sign o. the Admiral’s* Head. -It was kept by an old- fran named Marshall, who in his younger days hnd sorved on board one of the privateers which Dover in the war-time was wont to send. forth to proy upon the French maritime com- moree. His father had been the owner and cap- tain of the privateor, and had amassed some little money, with which at the Peace he had es- tablished himself at the Admiral’s Heat. Robert Marshall, the present owner of the place, was considered to be a respectable man enough. His house was well fyquonted; and he was known to be comfortablo ip his clroumstances. Ho was always regular in his attendance at ghuroh—sub- scribed to charities—sent the clergyman of the parish a handsome present at Ohristmas—and nover had any complaints mado againet his house on the score or irregularity or disorder. He therefore stood uncomtnunly well with the leading persons ip the town; and if a whisper did now and thon circulate that old Bob Marshall had ex- cellent Krench brandy in his establishment which hed never passed the Custom House, &r that his wife and daughters went to church on Sundays in | French. silks, gloves, and shoes, upon which no duty had ever been paid to the British govern- ment,—%30b Marshall was not wauting in influ- ential friends to take up the efidgels on his behalf and defend him against what they declared to io a most scandalous imputation. Mr. Marshall had three daughters, whose ages | averaged from about eighteen to twenty-four ; and very fino, good-looking, and genteel youn women thoy were. The eldest, whose Christian name was Vatherine—familiarly abbreviated, into Kate—had from hor girlhood been very fond of kooping poultry, pigeons, and other favourites of * the feathorod¢ribe in the large etable-yard in the rear of the tavern. | ally had she a very choice and beautiful breed of doves, to°which she was greatly ‘attached ; and though some of the neighbougs fodnd thet these birds were wont to get upon the tops of their houses and displace the tiles, they never compla old Marshall was invariably 80 ready to have aty such damage repaired at his own. expense, and Miss Kato was gure to make compensation by sending o fat turkey or a brace of pullots asa propitiation at Obristmas. But of all the friends and acquaiatances of the Mershalls who were aware of the eldest young lady's fondnesa for the. fenthered tribe, not oneof them wae ever admitted tthe knowledge of the ciroumstance that she had a bed-chamber prettily fitted up in the highest r | ined’ angrily, because. THE MYSIERIES OF THE COURT. ae storey of the house, and that {n the roof of this chamber there were precisely the, came contriv- ances as those which we have already explained at the Red Dragon on Boughton Hill, and the Dancing Bear near Gravesend. Yet such,vas the fact: and in that neat little but somewltat airily situated chamber, did, Kate Marshall sleep; and whenever the tinkling bell sounded she was as ready td spring from her couch as either Joe Dean or Becky Patch at their respective habita- tione. ° An clefant little French tim upon the chest of drawgrs, i wanted ten minutes to olock, when the tinkling summons was givoi}and Miss Kate was suddenly startled from a very pleasant droam in which the image of her intended husband—the captain of a small trading vessel—was conspi- cuons. Leaping ffom.the couch, she at once pér- ceived by the aid of her night-lamp, which she always kept burning, @ beautiful carricr-pigeon upon amrfiil a gouple of feet below the trap-door. Her plump white arm was immediately out- stretched to recejve'the little messenger ,and the next,moment the sweet bird Was fondly nestling in its kind friend's bosonf Then she gave it water; and detaching the little billet from beneath ite wing, hasty opened it.. A small manuscript- book which she took frpm a drawer, and which was filled with dates, refgrenccs, and initial letters, pfomptly refreshed her memory 60 as to supply ‘the key to the reading of the soroll, which with- out such a clue would nocessarily havo been s mere jargon as incomprehensible as the Egyptian hieroglyphics. Having made herself acquainted with the words upon the paper, she proceeded tu administer food to the bird, This boing donc, she fondled and caressed it again for a minute or two, and then let it escape through tle. trap-door in the roof of her chamber. Kate Marshall now hastily slipped on some clothing,and stealing down stairs, knocked géntly. at the chamber whore her father and mother slept. Mr. Marshall immediately rose, put on a dressiig- gown, and admitted his daughter. . “A message, I suppose?” be at once said as | he entered the foom. | “From Lady Beas,” responded Kate. “ Here itis. The koy is the letter L. Tho pigeon was sent off at twenty minutes to two, and arrived here at-ten minutes to three—one hour and ten minutes in all!" ° “And what's the 4 Why, mother, by the road, Dover is seventy- two miles from. London, you know,” responded | the daughter; “and then allowing that Lady Bese’s cottage is five miles from London, the whole distanea would be seventy-seven. But then, a8 the bird flies, it would not be nfach more than seventy, making a mile. a minute, inclusive of the short stoppages at tho two stations on the road." BC | While Miss So was thus speaking, her father had decyphered ,the sorapof paper, and had then burnt it by the flameof thecandle .§ . * Well, there is plenty of time to tutor your sisters and the servants what to say,” the old - man immediately observed. “Some hours must elapse before she will be here, although with the relayi. abe has ordered she will no doubt gallop LOTTE, IG Ne a e | FP TTT a PA GA AP a NS Ses SS a PAE RT oie eine Ng distance, Kates” asked Mrs. jece standing — ated that it* =e eee TE ES EE TE CE Ge eT ECOMRniclacae SS (CO)