The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 298: what you’re looking at

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287 “Well, well,” interrupted Carrotty Poll, petu- | passed some compliments upon the dexterity, tantly; “what is the use of reminding us of all | astuteness, and fidelity of Shickster Sal;—and the that has been done in the matter? We don’t deny | Kinehin-Grand was hugely delighted at the ean- that your plan has worked well, Bii———” comia thus lavished upon his mistress. He and “On the contrary,” said the Gallows’ Widow, | the two women then quitted the tap-room—nodded “we give you all possible eredit for it. Indeed, if| significantly to Briggs as they passed by the bar things turn ont to-night as we expect, it will be | where he was serving his castom issued through having adopted yoar advice that we shall | from the publie-house. save Poll’s father and Joe Warren from swinging , Skirting the row of gardens attached to Paradise at Execution Deck. So you perceive, Bill, that I | Villas, ran a narrow lane into which the back gates at least am not unmindful of the great service yeu will have rendered us. I suppose your young woman can be fally relied apon ?” “Like bricks and mortar,” answered the Kinchin- Grand. “There isn’t a better gal in all the world, though I say it, than the Shickster. Why, you may jadge for yourselves, I think. Hasn't she given us every information of all wot has been passing at the Pages’ house for the last month— indeed, from the fast day she succeeded in getting herself taken into their service as a maid-of-all- work :—and isn’t it through her that we're awake to the dodge that’s being practised to-night at their house? Ah! Mr. Pago little thinks that the dirty drab he once saw with her arms round my meck at the Kinchtn-Ken in Grub Street, is the same neat and tidy-looking gal which has been in his service for the last month! And it was a lucky thing, too, that Julia and Shickster Sal had never knowed each other. But here she is, by jingo !” of those little enclosures opened: and along this alley did the trio proceed at a rapid rate. On reaching the gate belonging to Page’s garden, they found Shickster Sal waiting for them;—and with the utmost cantion did she introduce them into the house. CHAPTER CXCY. THE INTRUDERS. Iz was now past ten o'clock ;—and lights were burning in a bed-chamber at Mr. Page’s abode. Upon the coueh in that apartment lay Pauline Clarendon, completely dressed, but with her luxu- riant hair all dishevelled. Having been prevailed upon by the treacherous Julia to take a giase of wine at supper, she had almost instantaneously fallen. into a condition of complete stupefaction ;—and in This ejaculation was elicited by the entrance of | that state was she borne up to the bed-chamber by that same young creature whom we introduced to our readers in a very early chapter of this narrative, and whom we represented at the time to have re- ceived the flash name of Shicksiter Sal from the circumstance of having been tenderly brought up until she was enticed away from home and plunged into the loathsome vortex of proftigacy. Her @ppearance was now much altered: she was aop- parelied with neatness—hér person was cleanly— and she was fer from being an iil-looking young woman. The respectable nature of her early training had enabled her to take with a prompt aptitude to the duties of the domestic situation which she was now filing in Mr. Page’s house ;— and her blind infatuation towards the Kinchin. Grand rendered her a suitable agent to carry out the designs of those who had sugvested her intro- daction into that establishment. “Well, my dear Sal,” exclaimed her paramour, welcoming her with a caress; “what news 7” * ¥t’s all right,” retarned the young woman. “Miss Clarendon partook of the drugged wine—and the Prince has this moment arrived.” “Then there's no time to be lost!” said Carrotty Poll, springing feom her seat. “Lead the way, Sal—there’s a dear—and we'll follow at a little distance.” “You'll come round te the back gate, mind,” was the injunction now given by Shickster Sal: “and don’t be more than a comple of minutes after me.” She then hurried away; — and the three ac- complices whom she left behind in the tap-room, exchanged looks of exuiting triumph. “Yen't she # reguiar blessin'’ to » man, that pal?” Mrs. Page and Shickster Sal, who had apparently lent herself with willingne$s to the infamous designs of her mistress. Yes—upon that couch reposed the defenceless maiden,—utterly unconscious of the perils which environed her. Nothing could be more gracefal than the total abandonment as it were to whieh her form was surrendered up: for precisely in the same position in which she had been deposited by Julia and the servant, was she now lying on that bed. Her garments, the least thing drawn up, revealed the well-shaped foot and the rounded ankle as far as the robust swell of the leg: her arms reposed in the motionless grace of a gentle curvature ;—and her lips, slightly apart, afforded glimpses of the pearly teeth. And over her leant the Prince of Wales: over that sleeping, almost inanimate form he leant—his eyes devouring her charms with a gloating avidity. As the boa-constrictor holds its prey in its hideoas eoils for a long time ere it appeases ita appetite with the luscious festival—so did the reptile volup- tuary feast his imagination with the delicious ban- quet of beauty that lay before him. His looks wandered slowly from that flood of dark brown hair which covered the pillow with its glossy luxu- riance, to the cheeks that were deeply flushed by the influence of the narcotic; — thence to the snowy neck that was slightly arched as if softly yielding to the weight of the drooping head, as the stalk of a tulip retains a gentle curve even when snapped from its root and lying upon the ground. And from that beauteous neck of such dazzling whiteness, the sensuous eyes of the Prince wan- dered to tlie bosom, the rising and falling of which demanded the Kinchin-Grand, who was far more | were 50 long and slow, as if measured, and likewise proud of her than he would have been, were ashe a | so little perceptible. paragon of meral excelience. But he devoured with his looks as much of those round white globes , satyr The Gallows) Widew and Carrotty Poll both ' as Panline’s modest dress left revealed ;—and the GOH GOO rec THE MYSTERIES. a a te we a ee ee, eee Si =~ PS eS PU epasbeengunenoemse SS