The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 207: what you’re looking at

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198 solution of the mystery. She now recollected the manner in which her things had been.looked out from amidst the scattered effects on the scene of the accident; and as sbe was still farther examin- ing the boxes, to ascertain to what extent she had thus become the unintentional self-appropriatrix of the property of the deceased lady, she discovered a small writing-desk, with the initials L. R. on a brase-plate upon the lid. The desk was open,— the violence with which it had been thrown out at the time from the box that contained it, having no doubt caused the lock to yield; and Lettice Rod- ney, being hampered with no over-nice scruple, unhesitatingly proceeded to the examination of the contents of the desk. She found several docu- ments closely relating to the deceased Mrs. Rayner’s affairs,—the certificate of her birth, as well as that of her marriage—a French passport, describing her personally with as much accuracy 4s sacl official papers are enabied, in a limited number of details, to exhibit~and several letters from Mr. Pollard, the lawyer, written at different times and advising her of periodical -remittances. There wore likewise memoranda, evidently penned by the deceased lady herself, and indicating various con- tinental placee which she had visited both previous and subsequent to her husband's death—the whole affording a tolerably comprehensive clue to her movements since her elopement from the boarding- achool. {na word, the several papers discovered in this desk, superadded to the oral explanations given by Mre. Rayner in the railway carriage, served to render Lettice as intimately acquainted as it was possible for her to become, with the affkirs of the deceased lady. While Miss Rodney was thus engaged in the -perueal of the contents of the desk, an idea gra- dually began to arise in her mind,—at first vague, indefinite, and impalpable—then acquiring shape and consistency wing stronger, until at last it became an object perfectly fitted for serious and deliberate contemplation. Lettice sat down and ered deeply thereon. She surveyed the imat- per thom overs distinct point of view—reckoned all the eshances of success and the probabilities of failure,—at the came time balancing the risk she might incur with the prize she might gam by playing the stroke boldiy. Her mimd was made up; and she now no longer conmdored it expedient to throw any light upon the mame of the deceased lady who was represénted as unknown in the udte- CHAPTEB KXXVIIL TUTE MissR. In by no means one of the best streets of Liver- pool, was situated the qwellng of Mr. Anthony Pollard, attorney-at-law. He has already been described as a widower, and of grasping miserly habits. Mrs. Rayner, when a child—ten years previous to the time at which we have found her speaking on the subject to Lettice Rodney—had observed his parsimonious character, and was dis- gusted by it: but during those ten years it had become still moré inveterate in its greed for gold— more intense in its eagerness for gain. He had ‘THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. | d thus acquired all the very worst attributes of the miser,—sacrificing every personal comfort to the sole object which he had in view. And yet, not to his knowledge, did he possess a single relation on the fave of the earth: there was no one whom he loved for whove sake he hoarded up gold—no one whom he cared for, to inherit it. The thought troubled him not that when the cold hand of death should be laid heavily on his shoulder, sending through him that congealing chill which knows no thaw,—his heaped-up riches would either devolve to the Crown, or be dissipated in the course of the law's disputes, or e thé prey of any plunderers who might gather in hii last moments at his bed-side, as the ravens troop to where the corpse will anon be on the field destined. for the battle. I¢ was not the question of who should inherit all this wealth, that occupied the mind of Anthony Pollard: it was sufficient for hirn that there was his golden image which he had eet up for his own particular worship,—no matter what worshipper might succeed him, nor whothe? the image itself might be shattered, at his death, by the hand of greedy litigants or of plunderérs intent upon @ division of the spoil. Most strange indeed fs the money-worship of the miser, whose idolatry is purely egotistical, and who ministers not as a hiyh-priést to lead others in the track of tho same devotion, as wetl as towards the static object, and to cherish the hope of posecesing the same idol { Mr. Pollard was a man well stricken in years— tall, lean, and lank—with shrivelled limbe—a cadaverous skin—e sinister expression of counte- nance—and an eye ever restless in the suspicious glances it was continuously flinging round about. Though so greedy of gain, Pollard was 0 just mas after his own fashion: that is to easy, he would acruple not, by means of all the engines of usury, to grind his victims down to the very dust—aye, or even reduce them to beggary, 6 long as he obtained his ows profit: but on the other hand be would religiously fuifil whatsoever obligation hé uhdertook, and whatsoever trust was confided to him. Thus was it that throughout all his dealings in respect to Mra Rayner, bis conduct was marked by the strictest probity; and it is therefore to be presumed that her father, ere his death, had salected him as a trustee from a knowledgo of thie illimitahie confidence that might be reposed in him. Of late years Mr. Pollard had grown so mistrdstfal of every one about him, that he had almost odm- pletely given up his practice as a solicitor, to as to avoid the necessity of keepmg clerks and of absent- ing himself for hours together fiom his home. Besides, he found money-lending a fer more lucra- tive avocation, and one which he could managd entixely by himself. ‘Thue, at the period when wé now introduce him to the reader, he had no clerks in bis employment; and his growing habite of par- simony had led him on to diminish his domestie establishment, limiting i¢ at length to a house- keeper and a drab of a servant-girl. The houss- keeper who was now in his service, had been with him barely three weeks: but on applying for Ue situation, she bad produced such excelicht Well- monials, signed by ladies of rank with Whom she represented herself to have lived, that Mr. Pollard had ufhesitatingly engaged her. Beside, she , —eee | ee eel COMMUC DOO CS (COL