The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 329: what you’re looking at

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

THE DISPOSAL OF THE CORPSE 295 many defences as possible, so that he alone should be enabled to hold it in terror over the head of the unhappy woman. Such were his reflections as he plied the spade with all the vigour of his muscular arms; but the task was by no means an easy one. For the soil was very hard, he had not the requisite implements to break it up ere he shovelled it out, and it was, moreover, necessary to dig to a great depth in order that a sufficiency of earth might cover the corpse so as to prevent any disagreeable odour from exhaling here- after. Three hours therefore elapsed before the grave was hol- lowed to receive the murdered man, — three mortal hours, during which both Mrs. Brace and Harriet passed through all the torturing transitions of lively alarm, cold terror, profound apprehension, and awful suspense. Sometimes they fancied they heard noises in the house, — footsteps descending the stairs, persons breathing in the passage communicating with the front kitchen, or windows opening in the upper rooms; and then their hair almost stood on end and the perspiration burst forth in large and ice-cold drops upon their foreheads. At other moments they would goad themselves to desperation with the thought that Fred- erick could not possibly complete his task before morning; that even if he were able, the trace of the deed would not be altogether annihilated; that some clue must inevitably remain, and that detection was sure to follow. Then Mrs. Brace, on the one hand, fancied that she already found herself arraigned at the bar of justice as a murderess; while Harriet in imagination saw herself accused as an accessory after the fact. For although the abigail believed her mis- tress’srepresentation that the constable had died of apoplexy, she nevertheless knew full well that were the corpse discov-. ered in the grave which Frederick was digging to receive it, the dread cry of murder would be instantaneously raised. Yes, three mortal hours thus passed, during which the murderess of mature age and the young woman in the bloom of youth were tortured with all the poignant imaginings of their fevered fancies. And they dared not express to each. other how tensely their feelings were thus wrung, much less — suffer Frederick Dray to observe how excruciating were their thoughts. For they were fearful of imparting their own terrors to him, thereby paralyzing the only arm which could (C(O) mG 6)(0)©)