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

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

folded it up 76 THE MYSIERLES OF THE COUiT. scribed at the Dancing Bear. Joo Dean, having first of all given the bird some water, de- tached the billet from beneath fits wing—read its contente—made a mark upon it with a pen— again—and attached it once more to the pinion of the feathered messenger. Heving fed and caressed the dove, he let ft loved again through the trap-door ; and away it sped on the third and last of its aerial journey. The lad, having noti the time by hie watch, there- tpon went down stairs dod communicated to his father the nature of the mesage which had just been Again must we tran the reader’s attention to come distance; and this ime Wwe halt at Dover. There, in one of the principal streets, was 8 tavern of respectable appearance, the sign of the Admirals Head. {t was kept by an old man named Marshall, who in tis younger days had served on board one of the privateers which Dover in the war-time was wont to send forth to prey upon the French maritime com- merce. father had been the owner and cap- tain of the privateer, and had amassed some little money, with which at the Peace he had es- tablished himself at the Admiral's Head. Robert Marshall, the present owner of the place, was considered to be a respectable man enough. His honse was well frequented; and he was known to be comfortable in his ciroumstances. He was always regular in his attendance at charch—sub- acribed to charitics—sent the clergyman of the parish a handsome present at Christmas—and never had any complaints made against his house On the score or frregolarity or disorder. He therefore stood uncommonly well with the leading persons in the town; and if a whisper did now and then ciroulate that old Bob Marshall had ex- cellent French brandy fn hie establishment which had never the Custom House, or that his wife and daughters went to church on Sundays tn French silks, gloves, and shoes, upon which no duty had ever been paid to the British govern- ment,—Bob Marshall was not wanting in infla- ential friends to take up the cadgels on his behalf and defend him against what they declared to be ® most scandalous imputation. : Mr. Marshall had three daughters, whose ages averaged from about eighteen to twenty-four ; and very fine, good-looking, and genteel young women they wore. The eldest, whose Christian name was Catherine—familiarly abbreviated into Kate—had from her girlhood been very fond of keeping poultry, pigeons, and other favourites of the feathered tribe in the large stable-yard in the rear of the tavern. - Especially had she a very choice and beautiful breed of doves, to which she was greatly attached; and though some of the neighbours found that these birds were wont to get upon the tops of their houses and displace the tiles, they never complained angrily, because old Marshall was invariably #0 ready to have any euch damage repaired at own oxpense, and Miss Kate was eure to make compensation by pending s fat turkey or a brace of pullets as a propitiation at Christmas. But of all the friends and acquaintances of the Marshalls who were aware of the eldest young lady’s fondness for the feathered tribe, not oneof them was over admitted to the knowledge of the circumstance that she bad a bed-chamber prettily fitted up in the highest storey of the house, and that In the roof of this chamber there were prucisely the same contriv- ances as those which we have already explained at the Red Drayon ot Boughton rin, and the Bear near Gravesend. Yet such was the fact: and in that neat little but somewhat airily situated chamber, did Kate Marshall sleep; and whenever the tinkling bell sounded she was as ready to spring from ber couch as either Joe Dean or Becky at thefr respective habita-~ ons. An clegant little French timo-pfece stand Gpon the chest of drawers, fotimatéed that fe wanted ten minutes to three o’clock, when the inking summons was given; and Miss Kate was suddenly startled from «a very pleasant dream in which the image of her intended husband—the captain of a small trading vecsel—was conspi- cuous. Leaping from the couch, ehe at once per- osived by the aid of her night-lamp, which she always kept burning, a beautiful carrier-pigeon upon e rail a couple of feet below the trap-door. Her plump white arm was fmmediately out+ etretched to receive the little messenger; and the next moment the sweet bird was fondly nestling in fts kind friend’s bosom. Then she gave ft water; and detaching the little billet from beneath its wing, hastily opened it. A small manuscript- book which she took from a drawer, and which waa filled with dates, references, and in{tial letters, promptly refreshed her memory so as to supply the key to the reading of the scroll, which with- out such a clne would necessarily have been a mere jargon as incomprehensible as the Egyptian hioroglyphics. Having made herself acquainted - with the words upon the paper, she proceeded to administer food to bi This being dons, she fondled and ca it again fora minute or two, and then let it escape through the trap-door in the roof of her chamber. Kate Marshall now hastily slipped on some clothing,and stealing down atairs, knocked gently at the chamber where her father and mother elept. Mr. Marshall immediately rose, put on a dressing- gown, and admitted his daughter. “A message, I suppose?” he at once said as he entered the room. “From Lady Besa,” responded Kate. “ Here itis. The key is the letter L. The pigeon was eont off at twenty minutes to two, and arrived here at ten minutesto three—one hour and tea mfnutes in all!” “ And what's the distance, Kate?” asked Mrs. Marshall. “ Why, mother, by the road, Dover is seventy- two miles from London, you know,” responded the daughter; “and then allowing that Lady Bess's cottage is five miles from London, the whole distante would be seventy-seven. Bat then, as the bird files, 1t would not be much more than seventy, making a mile a minuto, inclusive of the short stoppages at the two stations on the While Miss Kate was thas speaking, her father had decyphered the scrap of paper, and had then burnt it by the flame of the candle. “ 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 relays she has ordered she will no doubt gallop GORMGOOOKXS COMM