The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 22: what you’re looking at

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rrr rrr LL f former; and in breathless haste he assailed the driver of the latter with a host of questions. “Which way is he gone?—where has he hidden himvctth Manet did he say ?” “ Who d’ye mean ?” demanded the coachman be- longing to the yellow vehicle. “ Why—your fare, to be sure,” answered Page: “the gentleman in the cloak !” “ Well—he didn’t say much,” was the response; “ only when he happened to twig that you or some one with ye was hanging half-way out of that coach, he instantly called out to me to stop, tossed me a euinea, and cut off.” “But in which direction?” demanded the impatient commercial traveller. “ Ah! there you bother me,” returned the man, evidently fencing with the question. * You mean that he gave you a guinea not to an- swer any questions ?” cried the astute Page. “ Come —here are two; and now tell me the truth.” “ Thank’ee kindly, sir,” said the jarvey, leaning down from his box to receive the gold which Page handed up to him: then having clutched the reward, he added, “ Butit’s precious little information I can give you, sir. All I know is that when the gentle- man jumped out of the coach, he cut across the road and was out of sight in a minute. Whether he turned down the lane there—or whether he went into one of the little gardens in front of the houses close by, I really can’t say. But it must have been one or t’other—for he disappeared in a jiffey.” “And that’s all you can tell me for the two guineas !” exclaimed the irritated commercial tra- veller. : “ Every bit, sir,’ responded the man; and whip- ping his horses as he thus spoke, the yellow vehicle rolled rapidly away. “ Perdition !” cried Page: “he has fairly swindled me! But never mind—I shall not give up the chase—so follow me, my men, as quick as you choose.” And, conceiving that it was not worth while to return into the vehicle in order to accomplish the little distance to the spot where the object of pur- suit had descended from the yellow coach, the com- mercial traveller took to his heels—rushing along the road like a madman. Grint and Sneesby, supposing that Page intended them to follow him likewise on foot, now leapt out of the vehicle: but the coachman, suddenly in- pressed with the idea that his fare were endeavour- ing to bilk him, bounded from the box, and laid a vigorous grasp upon the collars of the two consta- bles. An altercation now took place which occupied ten minutes; for Mr. Sneesby looked to his principal, Mr. Grint, to emancipate him from any lability in the case—and, on his side, Mr. Grint was fearful that if he once paid the money, he should not be able to recover it again from Mr. Page. At length the two constables determined upon re-entering the vehicle and driving after the commercial traveller ; and this plan was accordingly adopted. In the meantime Mr. Page, having reached that part of the road where he fancied that the object of pursuit must have sought concealment somewhere or other, began to knock at every door in the row of houses with the gardens in front ; but to his reiterated question whether a tall gentleman in a cloak had just taken refuge there, he was met by a decisive THE MYSTERIES. 7 negative. At length, having thus disturbed the in- mates of half-a-dozen dwellings—for it was now nearly eleven o’clock—he was on the point of giving up the pursuit in despair, when suddenly he recol- lected the lane to which the driver of the yellow coach had alluded. “Well, I won’t be beaten yet awhile,” he mur- mured to himself: and away he sped along the lane, not pausing to reflect whether the constables were following him, nor whether, if he did succeed in overtaking the fugitive, he could possibly secure him without their assistance. On therefore rushed Mr. Page, as if he himself were pursued by the officers of justice; and heaven knows how long he would have thus exercised his speed, had he not suddenly been stopped by a huge fellow, whom he encountered at a turning in the lane. The moonlight fell upon as villanous a physiognomy as ever one would expect to meet out- side of Newgate; and the commercial traveller was by no way reassured when a more attentive exami- nation of the man made him acquainted with the fact that he carried a great club-stick in his hand. The result was imevitable, and just what our readers might suppose. Mr. Page was compelled te surrender his purse, his watch, and his gold ring upon the spot ; and the robber, not satisfied with this booty, insisted upon searching his victim’s garments. A mortal terror now came over the miserable commercial traveller: for all in an instant it flashed to his memory that he had about him his pocket- book containing bills of exchange and other docu- ments of importance, which he had received during the last week of his tour, and which belonged to his employers, Messrs. Hodson and Morley of Wood Street. “Come, now,” exclaimed the ruffian, as Mr. Page exhibited an inclination to offer resistance to the attempt at personal search,—“ none of your gammon with me; or I’ll dash your brains out!” And seizing the collar of the writhing vietim with one hand, he brandished the club in a menacing manner with the other: so that Mr. Page was forced to surrender at discretion. The pocket-book was accordingly discovered by the thief in the course of a few moments; and when he had hastily glanced onits contents by the moonlight, he said in an ab- rupt tone of interrogation, “ Bills of exchange—eh 2” “Y-e-s,” replied the miserable Page, who was shivering from head to foot, alike through cold and terror. “ Well—they’re of more use to you than they are to me,” continued the robber; “and so you may have the book back again for fifty guineas.” “ Fifty guineas !”’ repeated the unhappy com- mercial traveller. “I haven’t got a farthing left about me. You have taken my purse, which con- tains ten or a dozen guineas——”’ “ A miserable trifle!’ exclaimed the robber. “Is it worth your while to give fifty guineas to have the pocket-book back, with all its contents just as they are ?” “ Worth my while!” cried Page, a gleam of hope breaking in upon him even through the black cloud of his present misfortune : “ to be sure it is! I should be ruined—utterly ruined—if I didn’t recover it.” “Well, then,” said the man, “I'll tell you how we can manage the affair, To-morrow night at nine o’clock precisely, you must be walking about at the beginning of Tooley Street—just over London Bridge Ae COA Ghbooksreecom