The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 34: what you’re looking at

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

tpn tee tg gg A pO ~_—oe wee on THR MYCTERISA, such dread- | certain little arrangements to make for to-night, I'l lend a helping hand is fal miscreants as these of whom you have been “ Well—if so be Mr. Page has pluck enough to enter into the business, we can manage it, I’ve no doubt,” said Grumley, swinging one of his legs back- ward and forward, and surveying the movement with infinite complacency. “Be you agreeable, sir?” he small grey eyes Soquiringly op the commencint tre- er. “ Certainly he is,” hastily exclaimed the merchant, without allowing the principal party concerned to speak for himself. “ Are you not, Mr. Paget!” “Oh! decidedly, sir,” responded this individual, summoning to his aid as much courage as he could command: al in the secret recesses of his soul, he did not at all admire the prospect of placing himself in collision with Joe the Magsman and the Gallows’ Widow. “There's a hundred pound reward offered for the apprehension of the * observed Mr. Grum- ley, deliberately unrolling a bundle of bills printed in ominously large type, and displaying the one which related to a certain Joseph Warren. “A aundred pound to be got,” he repeated ; “ and there- fore me and Mr. Page will go sheers.” “That’s business-like!” exclaimed the commer- cial traveller, his-countenance brightening up at the prospect ef a recompense for the risk he was about to encounter. * Well, then,” resamed Mr. Grumley, “ you must keep the appintment punctual this evening; and when you meet the Gallows’ Widow, you must tell her that you want to see Joe the Magsman about some partickler business, and that you're gving on as far as the Beggar’s Staff in Horslydown. If so be the Magsman is in the neighbourhood at the time, watching your interview with his woman, she'll most likely take youto him. If not, she'll say that you can go with her to the flash boozing-ken But is any case you suet go on to the Beggar's Staff; and then leave all the rest to me.” “Am I to go alone?!” inquired Page, with some degree of surprise and dissatisfaction at the arrange- ments pro “To be sure!” answered the officer. “Why— what a fool’s trick it would be to make your appear- ance with a troop of coustables at your back. The rascals would take tlie alarmn, and in a few minutes they'd be no-where. Don’t be afraid, sir: assistance will be pretty nigh, I can tell you.” : “Very " remarked Page. “And supposing ‘hat I am introduced into the presence of this Mags- nan, as he calls himself—what excuse had I better make for wanting to see him f” “ Why, you'll tell him that you’re in the employ of a very rich firm in the city, and that having made a mull of your accounts, you're grown desperate and don’t mind helping to rob’em,” said the officer. “ The Magsman will snap at the bait; and so, if we don't succeed in grabbing him to-night, we shall be pre- paring a plant to catch him in Wood Street But you must mind and do it properly—or else the whale thing ’1] fail, and he'll grow cunninger than ever.” “I understand,” observed Page; “and you may depend upon it that when I do enter into a thing, it is with a determination to go on boldly.” “ So much the better,” exclaimed Grumley. “ And pow, genelmen, as my time is precious and I’ve got say good bye for the present.” Mr, Hodson slipped afew guineas into the dffloer’e hand; andl then took hie degestarn aocempeniod hy age. a ted CHAPTER VIL RVENING IN LONDOX.—THE GALLOWS WIDOW. It was nine o'clock in the evening; and a misty rain was falling. The lamps shone dimly es if through a fog: the streets were covered with a slimy mud;—and Fathe Thames rolled through the arches of Londen bridges with a moaning sound. The wayfarers in the streets hurried along in a manner which showed that they wonld not be abroad unless business or necessity compelled them: thoes who had umbrellas were a trifie leas sullen in teoks than those who had none ;—and these latter appeared as miserable as scanty c.othing, inclement weather and the jostling of crowds on the fitthy slippery pavement could possibly render them. Young seamstresses taking home the work which they had toiled hard to accomplish by a certain time,—milliner-girts returning to their poor lodg- inga,—women of pleasure in their flaunting garbs, contrasting so strangely with the aspect of the cves- ing,—poor men’s wives going to purchase the fruga: supper at some cheap shop —and old erones shufiling along to the public-housa,—these were all mingled pell-mell in the myriad thoroughfares of the mighty metropolis—and the eye of the acute observer might single out each and assign her to the particular class to which she belonged. Of the male sex there were the ill-paid and half- starved clerk—the artizan, wearied with his hard day's labour—the needy adventurer in his shabby- genteel suit—the small tradesman, running about te collect in a few dobts for the purpose of meeting s payment on the morrow—the old libertine whom ao weather could keep out of the streets when the frais sisterhood walked abroad—the young rake puffing his cigar and nodding familiarly to the loose females whom he passed—the drunkard reeling home from the tavern—and the shivering beggar gazing wistfully at the windows of the bakers’ shops and the eating- houses Then, too, might be observed the pauper-womes with an infant in her arms and a little family of shoeless and stockingless children trooping along miserabiy behind her :—here a ballad-singer, stand- ing in tne gutter, had collected a small knot of idlers; —and there a costermonger was pushing along his barrow, reckless of whose shins he might bruise or break at the crossings. Amidst the people thus passing to and fro in all directions might be observed the juvenile pickpocket, with rapid walk as if intent upon gaining some par- ticular destination, althougn in reality having ne settled point in view; while the older thief sauntered more leisurely along, with his hands in his own pockets as if be had not the slightest intention of dipping them into the pockets of others. The shop-windows were all rendered dim by the rain that settled upon them: the coloured waters in the chemists’ dispensaries reflected a sinister light upon the countenances of the passers-by ;—and the COLT G NOOO) CO