The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 359: what you’re looking at

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

OO SEEST-~S=A~=— OO _ _——— THE BEGGAR’S STAFF AGAIN 325 and whenever she had a moment’s leisure, she passed into the little parlour, where she indulged in a whispered chat with some friend who was seated there, until the wants of the next customer called her forth again into the bar en- closure. Matters were progressing in the usual way at the Beggar’s Staff on the special evening in question; that is to say, there was no deficiency of obscene jesting, coarse conver- sation, smutty songs, and savage quarrelling; no deficiency either in coin to procure the alcoholic poison which makes depravity more depraved, vice more hardened, wantonness more brazen, and crime more desperate. In some cases the men were sitting with prosititutes upon their knees; in others, they were literally reclining in the arms of the loose women whose half-naked forms glowed ruddy in the lurid light of the fire; while a few young girls of tender age were sitting together in a group, each apparently straining every effort and racking her invention to the utmost to talk in a style more libidinous and filthy than the rest. While the inmates of the public-room at the Beggar’s Staff were thus diverting themselves after their own fashion, a man, muffled up in a drab greatcoat and wearing an ample woollen comforter around his neck, entered the pandemonium. His hat was slouched over his eyes, he carried a short but stout ash stick in his hand, and an ugly mongrel followed at his heels. The moment this individual made his appearance, a sudden damp seemed to fall upon the company, for to the experienced eyes of the frequenters of the Beggar’s Staff there was every indication of the Bow Street runner about that man. Nor was the conjecture erroneous; for, as he walked in a free and easy fashion up to the bar, he pushed. his hat somewhat back from over his face, and the well- known features of Mr. Mobbs were immediately recognized. not only by Carrotty Poll herself, but also by the greater _ portion of the company present. “TI don’t come officially, my dear,’’ he hastened to observe, in a loud tone, to the Big Beggarman’s daughter; and the_ announcement instantaneously allayed the suddenly excited | apprehensions of many whose consciences were not so clear but that they fancied it quite possible that they might be ‘* wanted.”’ (C(O) ANC 6)(0)©)