The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 286: what you’re looking at

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

CHAPTER XXX THE GLASS OF LIQUEUR TEN minutes had elapsed since the departure of the Gallows’ Widow, and a profound silence reigned throughout the milliner’s establishment in Pall Mall. The door of the parlour was now opened cautiously, and Mrs. Brace came forth, holding a light in her hand, and followed by Peter Grumley. 7 The countenance of the unhappy woman was of a ghastly pallor, which, as before stated, showed through the roseate tint which art had shed upon her cheeks; but in the settled frown stamped on her forehead, the corrugated brows, the fixed stare of the eyes, the compressed lips, and the up- heaved, motionless bosom, there was evinced a sternness of purpose which would have filled the constable’s mind with terrible misgivings had not his brain become confused with a large potation of brandy wherein he had indulged immediately after the departure of the Gallows’ Widow. His countenance was therefore flushed, his eyes were blood- shot, and his lips were wreathed into a vacant smile of drunken satisfaction and tipsy triumph, his appearance thus presenting a remarkable contrast with that of the determined and desperate woman who now conducted him as cautiously as she could up the staircase to her own bedchamber. But the carpeted stairs creaked beneath the heavy and uneven steps of the constable, and his bulky form occa- sionally reeled against the balustrade, thereby producing a cracking sound in the woodwork; and in rapid, low, but severe, nay, almost savage whispers, did Mrs. Brace enjoin him to be careful how he alarmed and aroused the entire household. At length the chamber was reached, and Mr. Peter Grumley 252 COnnicooolkks (C(O)