The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 56: what you’re looking at

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

a arta | i EE eS THR MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. 45 * am I not in a state that is enough to drive one med? You and my daughter are all for your- selves—you wrote to me when you should have come———” “The house was watched by the police,” intor- jected Smedley: “and therefore-——” “ How is it, then, that you are here now P” de- manded Mrs. Webber sharply: “ and what devil’s business has brought you to me? Can you help me to escape, Jack P—can you with all your art and cunning set me free, as the Burker has libe- rated himself ?”’ “ If it were possible,” responded Smedley, * I should ——” “ Possible!’ cried Mrs. Webber, contemptuously. “ Nothing is possible with you, except sneaking villany and covert cowardly crime. But anything bold—no, nothing of the sort! Look you, Jack Smediey—if I go to the scaffold it shall not be alone !”” e “ -in-law !” he ejaculated vehemently. “ Hold your tongue, and listen! Companionship is always sweet—and not the less so in death. At all events it will be a consolation for me to know that I am not the most miserable person in exist- ence at that last instant!” “ Bat, mother-in-law,” faltered forth Jack Smed- ley, with a countenance white as a sheet, “ would you hang your own daughter P” “ She leaves me here to be hanged !” retorted the woman fiercely: “ she does not come near me !” “ She has sent you plenty of money, mother-in- law,” interposed Jack in acoents of remonstrance and deprecation. “« ‘Yes—to fee counsel in a hopeless cause!” cried Mrs. Webber. “I tell you what it is—I feel in that state of mind that I could wreak a ven- geance upon the whole world!—all the bonds of kith and kin are broken!—I know nobody but enemios! That is my state of mind! And if you had the gibbet looming ever before your eyes—if you had a sensation as of a cord ever round your neck—if you had night and day to look death in the face—you, Jack Smedley, would feel even worse than I do. It is enough to drive one crased— crased—crazed |” Again the old woman rocked herself to and fro; and ber son-in-law felt as if his purpose were com- pletely frustrated. Hoe knew not what to say next: there.was a perfect consternation in his mind : he thought that she might even denounce him as the accomplice of her numerous crimes, the instant the tarnkey should come back to conduct him away from her cell. “ Jack Smedley,” she said, at length breaking a somewhat long pause, “tell me for what purpose ‘you have come here now. If I thought it was to serve me in any way—if I thought you had the courage to furnish me the means of escape——”’ “Tell me what those means are, mother-in-law,” quickly ejaculated the goldbeater; “and I promise you they shall be forthcoming. Do you wanta file —a crowbar—a rope-ladder——”’ “Fool !” interrupted the old woman with bit- terest scorn, “ how can I, a poor weak feeble crea- ture, reduced to the mere shadow of what I was,— how can I accomplish that which a strong powerful determined man, as the Burker, could only just succeed in effecting? No—it is not by such meaps as those that I may escape hence! But there is something which will enable me to evade the ordeal of trial—the horror of condemnation— aye, and that last hideous frightful scene which I shudder to contemplate! And more too—it is something that will save me from the horrible chance of betraying my own daughter in my mad- nese !” “And that something ?” ejaculated Smedley, with the almost breathless eagerness of suspense. Mrs. Webber looked very hard at him for nearly @ minute; and then a word—a single word—came in a slow whisper from her lipse—a word which made her son-in-law start suddenly, although what she had previously said had more than half pre- pared him for the climax. And that one word was—* Poison !” * Do you mean it, mother-in-law P” he asked, clutching her wrist and looking her intently in the face. “IT mean it!” she responded. “Bat of what use,” was her immediate contemptuous addition, “is it for me to make such a request, since I already see that your craven heart——” “ Enough, mother-in-law !—you do not under- stand me,” hurriedly whispered the goldbeater. “I have poison with me !” “Poison with you?’ she echoed, a wild joy flashing forth in unearthly light from her eyes. “Isit possible? Buthow? You are not deceiving me P” “No, no—I am not deceiving you,” rejoined the goldbeater quickly. “Can you not under- stand that Bab and I feel ourselves to be en- vironed by dangers? Yes—we know that we are etanding upon a mine which may explode at any instant. Therefore we are prepared! We have breathed a solemn vow that the hangman’s cord shall never touch our necks. On this we are resolved! Do you remember the phial of poi- 60D =<”? “Ah! the prussio acid,” said Mra. Webber, eagerly, “which was found amongst Preston's effects P’’ “ The same!” rejoined Smedley. “ There is the phial—it contains half the fluid which originally filled it. Bab has the other half.” * And will you give it to me?” demanded the woman, yearning for the deadly venom with as strong an avidity as if she were famished and it was food that she was imploring: “ will you sur- render up your share? can you for once in your life, Jack Smedley, do a generous action P” The goldbeater pretended to hesitate fur a few moments : but if his simulated hesitation had only lasted an instant longer, that flerce tiger-cat—his mother-in-law—would have flown at him to tear the phial from his grasp. “'Yes—take it!” he said, just in time to pre- vent such a scene: and he placed the phial in her hand. “Ob, to cheat the gallows! to avoid the hang- man! to escape the horrors of the gazing crowd !” —and the woman in an unnatural frenzy of joy pressed the phial to her lips. “ But my dear mother-in-law,” whispered Jack Smedley, bending down towards her ear, “you will not take that poison for two or three days P— you will not compromise me P” “ No—I can afford to spare you now,” answered Mrs. Webber: “for you have done me at least need COMicooOolkxs.conrn —— eee — omy ae i