The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 316: what you’re looking at

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

4 302 —— —_—___—_ —_— 2 THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. PLL LLL LLL li, early in the morning, so as to be at your house in town, wherever it is, by eight or nine o'clock.” Sir Douglas Huntingdon immediately proceeded to pen the requisite instructions for the payment of the hundred guineas to the bearer; and having affixed his signature to the letter, he was about to seal it when the Buttoner leant over his shoulder, observing in a coarse tone of familiarity, “ Beg pardon, sir—but I must see what you have wrote, if you please.” “ By all means,” observed the Baronet, scarcely attempting to conceal his disgust. ‘* Butif you did not mean me to close the letter, why did you bring the sealing-wax.” “T fancied you would rayther seal it,” was the reply; “so that when delivered at your door to- morrow morning, it won’t be read by no one but her as it is addressed to. But all this isn’t no reason why I shouldn’t see aforehand what the let- ter really contains. Howsumever, it’s all right— and so now you can seal it.” Sir Douglas Huntingdon accordingly secured the Jetter; and having duly addressed it to Mrs. Baines, his housekeeper in London, he gave it into the hands of the Buttoner. This individual once more hurried up the narrow ricketty staircase, at the top of which was a bedroom—if a place with a quantity of dirty flock scattered upon the floor, a wretched coverlid, a rudely-constructed table, a chipped bason, and a cracked ewer, deserves such an appellation. In this wretched apartment Nell Gibson was seated. A bottle of spirits and a glass stood upon the table; and as the light of the solitary candle played flickeringly upon ber countenance, it showed that her features were slightly flushed with drink- ing. Her apparel was in striking contrast with the miserabie aspect of the place. She wore gold ear- rings: a silk boddice, fitting close to her shape, displayed the luxuriant proportions of her figure ;— her arms were bare to the shoulder—and the short skirts of her dress revealed her well-formed ancles up to the swell of the leg. A handsome bonnet and scarf lay upon the bench where she was seated; and when the Buttoner re-appeared this second time in the chamber, she was counting a few guineas which she had taken from a new silk purse. We have already informed our readers that there had been a grard steeple-chase in the neighbour- hood that morning; and great numbers of persons had been attracted to the vicinage of Shooter’s Hill, not only from the adjacent towns of Dartford, Woolwich, and Greenwich, but also from the me- tropolis. To take advantage of this opportunity of displaying their particular genius and exercising their craft, Bencull, the Durrynacker, the Buttoner, and Nell Gibson had appeared upon the scene: while the Hangman, Sally Melmoth, and Jack the Foundling had likewise paid a visit to the same neighbourhood and for the same purpose. Of course the two parties had thus met in pursuance of previous arrangement: but we shall not pause to describe the various ways in which all these worthies, male and female, turned the proceedings of the day and the presence of a large concourse of people, to their own special advantage. Suflice it to say that they managed to reap a very toler- able harvest; and when evening came the two parties took a very friendly leave of each other. On the one hand, Daniel Coffin, Sally Melmoth, and Jack the Foundling repaired to a small, lonely, but convenient ale-house at a short distance amongst the fields, to take up their quarters till morning: while, on the other hand, Bencull, the Buttoner, the Durrynacker, and Nell Gibson had already arranged to pass the night af the rnde hut in the immediate vicinage of Shooter’s Hill. Now this hut belonged to no less a personage than the Mushroom-Faker. The reader will scarcely require to be told that it was a very con- venient haunt for such personages as those just named : and accordingly, when business was slack at Jacob’s Island, they often sought the rude hut for the purpose of seeing what they could pick up by nights on Shooter’s Hill. It was alsoa retreat for any member of the fraternity whom circumstances compelled to “keep out of the way” for a while;—and suspicion was averted from the place by the maintenance of an air of the most abject poverty. The gamekeepers of the district fancied that it was occupied only by a poor inoffen- sive umbrella-mender, who was frequently absent on long journeys: whereas, in reality, it was the scene of many crimes and the hiding-place of many criminals. We need only add in explanation of present in- cidents, that Bencull, the Durrynacker, and the Buttoner, flushed with the success of their pro- ceedings amongst the crowds collected for the steeple-chase in the morning, had resolved not to allow the night to pass without “ trying their luck” on Shooter’s Hill. Hence the stoppage of the Baronet’s carriage, and the circumstances which led to his introduction to the hut. We stated that upon ascending the stairs a second time, the Buttoner found Nell Gibson counting her money: and as he tossed her the letter which he had just received from the Baronet down-stairs, he said, “ Here, gal, is the dokiment that will produce a hundred guineas to-morrow- morning.” “So much the better,’ observed the young woman, with a smile of satisfaction: “this is some- thing like a night’s adventure. Let me see— there’s five of us—that will be twenty guineas apiece: because although you and me are now as good as one, yet we go shares as two.” “Oh! to be sure,” said the Buttoner: “ that’s understood! You'll have to start off precious early in the morning, Nell, so as to deliver that letter by eight or nine o'clock, and make sure of the money. Not that it matters much, so far as the swell cove his-self is concerned: for we don’t mean to part with him quite so easy. In fact,’ added the But- toner, lowering his voice to a whisper, “we don’t mean to part with him at all.” «Then what do you mean?” asked Nell, in her usually quiet way, as if it were impossible for her to be surprised, startled, or alarmed by any an- nouncement that could be made or any plan that could be revealed. “ Why, the swell cove has got such a handsome yack and chain, such beautiful fawneys, and such a sweet breastpin—besides which, his toggery is so precious yood—that it would raly be a sin to let such wallyables slip through our fingers. And therefore,” added the Buttoner, in a still lower whisper and with an ominous look, “we mean to put him wery comfortably out of the way. Be- Se com (C 0)(0)(6) S (€()