The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 130: what you’re looking at

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HR MYSTERIES, | 117 “Bo they do,” exclaimed Jeb Minks: “buat let me tell you that my pal didn’t read it at all, fur the plain and simple reason that he can’t read. Neither did he have it read to him; but it was the sexton of Old St. Pancras which told him all about it—seeing that he went to bury his sister there morning.” yesterday : “Ah? that’s different,” observed Buss. “But I s’pose it’s some Bedlamite that’s broke loose and is amusing his-self in this uncommon style ?” “Or elee it must be a cannibal,” suggested an- other listener. “ Or p’r’aps some desperate wretch driven by sheer starvation to dig up dead bodies and eat them,” re- marked a third. “It may be a madman—bat if is not a cannibal,”’ said Minks: “for it don’t appear that he has made a mies] on the corpses. His delight seems to be to hack and hew them to pieces; and in all this there’s what the papers call a fiendish revelry in the horrible pastime of exhuming and mutilating the dead.” “Shall I tell you what Z think of the matter?” exclaimed a voice which Mre. Melmoth did not re- | member to have heard previously joining in the con- Versation. . “ Is that you, old Tiddleywink?” demanded Buss “Why, I thought you was fast asleep long ago. I heerd you a-snoring.” “No, you didn’t—it was semebody else,” was the reply. “ I've been listening all along to every word our friend Minks has been telling us—and what is more, I believe every word too. For the whole thing puts me in mind of certain accounts that I have read in books; and you'll find ont in the long ran that the hands which are now exhuming bodies and mutilating them so horribly, are not those of a madman—nor yet of acannibal—nor yet of a des- ‘] perate wretch goaded on by starvation.” These remarks were made with a solemnity and an emphasis which produced a strange and awe-in- spiring eflect upon all who heard them; and s deep silence of more than a minute eneued. That silence, following so closely upon the hideous narrative which had just been related, had im it something of a tomb- like horror and a sepulchral gloom—especially when the idea was associated with that of the pitchy dark- ness which prevailed in the chamber. Mrs. Melmoth felt her blood curdling ia her veins; and as she pressed the now sleeping babe more closely to her bosom, she shrank up as it were within her- self, as if she fancied that the eold hand of a corpse was about to clutch her by the shoulder. “And so them’s your opinions, old Tiddleywink —be they f” exclaimed Buss, at length breaking silence. “Bat I s’pose, since you speak with such a air of authority, you can wentur’ a guess as to who or what it is that has been playing such precious pranks with the dead ‘uns f” } “Wel—I Aave an opinion on that point,” said the individual thus appealed fo; “and you may depend upon it that the result will show I havw’n’t been far wrong. For, according to what Eve read in books —and you must remember I was a schoolmaster once, before the tyranny of the parson of the parish ruined me and I was dsiven out into the streets to fret a beggar—and then a member of that class of people who find things before they are lost—” “ A wery délicate way of expresain’ the noble per. fession of prig and buzgloak,” interjected the man who rejoiced in the name of Buss, |, _ “ Come—don’t stop him with observations in tha: manner,” cried Job Minks. “ What was you going to say, old feller t” “Simply this,” was the response ;: “ that according to what I've read in books, it is not by any means the first or the twentieth time instances have occurred of graves being opened — bodies dragged focth—and horrible mutilations accomplished. I[n England, perhaps, the thing is rare: but on the con- tinent it has been frequent enough. And the perpe- trator of these atrocities is not a resurrectionist—nor a thief— nor a madman — nor a cannibal—nor a starving wretch made desperate by hunger: no—it is nothing of all these, I can assure yoa !” “ Then what is it ?* demanded several voices, with that shuddering accent which denotes a presentiment of some appalling reply to the question put. - What is it?” repeated the ex-schoolmaster,in atone of mingled horror and solemnity: “it isa being of whom you have all doubtless heard, but whose exist- ence may have seemed fabulous—a being whose very name is sufficient to make the blood run cold and the hair stand on end !” “ But this being—what is it?” again cried many voices. “A Vampyre!” was the astounding answer. Ejaculations of horror followed this announcement; and Mra. Melmoth felt a sensation come over her as if she were about to faint, “Yee—the perpetrator of those atrocities which you have heard related this night,” continued the ex- echoolmaster, “ must be none other than a Vampyre. And now that you know there is a Vampyre in Lon- don, I warn you to take care of yourselves—how you pass through churchyards by night—how you trust yourselves in lonely places near suburban cemeteries —aye, aud how you sleep in dark rooms without knowing who are your companions and who may happen te be huddled up alongside of you!” “ Good God! is there any danger of such a thing?” exclaimed Buss, starting up from the wretched flock mattress on which be was stretched. “ Danger!” repeated the ex-schoolmaster, in oe tone of mingled irony and terror: “to be sure there is! Can you doubt it? Do you know—or do you noé know of what a Vampyre is capable? Well—I will explain % to you. He will insinuate himself mto a company such as our’s now present—he will ait down aud eopverse in the most agreeable manner —he will hire a lodging for the night in the same room,——for example, in such a place as this, —— and he will stretch himeslf down on his mattress like all the reat of us. Then, when the light is put out and everybody alse is sleeping, this Vampyre will either strangle seme unfortunate wretch at once, or else will fasten - his tenth upon his flesh while still living and begin to drink his blood! This is what a Vampyre will do: and now I should like to know whether people of our stamp, who are forced to fre- quent these kind of places, should be cautious of not ft’ Renewed ¢ ions of horror burst from those on whose ears this fearful description and awful warn- ing fell ;—and Mre. Melmoth, though a woman of geod ing common asonee, felt herself over- whelmed with terrors whieh in the broad sun-light aad the epen air would. not have exercised even a moment’s influence upan her. But in the midst of that deep darknesa—m the society of wretches of the lowest and most depraved character—and with hes GOH GOO (COLUM