The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 60: what you’re looking at

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

MORNING IN LONDON 39 over the back of the other in the spasmodic convulsion of a chill that searches him through and through to the very marrow of his bones. Nor less, at this same hour, soon after the dawn of the miserable winter’s morning, is seen the starveling beggar- boy, — a lad of tender years, whose growth is stunted by misery, and whose frame is emaciated so that the ribs of his poor little sides may be counted; the friendless, parent- less, and unprotected child, who seems to be the outcast of society; a filthy globule of the moral scum thrown up by the fermenting passions, interests, and selfishness of the great world of London; a miserable being whose existence is passed in the very gutter, or on the dunghill, or under hedges, and who is not even so enviable as those whose lot alternates between a flash-house and a prison; a poor doomed boy to whose ear it were a hideous mockery to breathe a word of religion, or of morality, or of the hopes and fears attendant on the Christian faith. Yes, cold, gloomy, and cheerless dawned the wintry morn- ing, as the beautiful sisters, Octavia and Pauline Clarendon, began to make preparations for breakfast. They had scarcely closed their eyes all night; but their cheeks glowed with the hues of health, and their spirits were gay and cheerful as they performed those domestic duties which they chose not to entrust to the charwoman, who had already ar- rived. As Mrs. Mordaunt progressed well, Mr. Thurston had re- turned home at about two o’clock in the morning; and during his absence an earnest and most serious consultation had been held by the young mother and her friend, Mrs. Smith, relative to the disposal of the babe. At length they resolved that certain proposals should be made to the surgeon; and, accord- ingly, when he reappeared shortly after eight o’clock, Mrs. Smith sought an opportunity of speaking with him alone in a room adjoining the chamber of the invalid. “Mr. Thurston,” she said, “I wish to submit to your consideration a matter of vital importance — and yet lI know not how to open the subject.” “ Perhaps, madam,” returned the medical man, “ it will save you some embarrassment if I assure you that I have already formed a conjecture relative to the aim which you have in view.” (C(O) ail Doo (CO)