The Mysteries of London; or, Lights and Shadows of London Life — page 12: what you’re looking at

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

4 We have thus before us the representatives of the three classes :— The Earl ef Winterton, of the frst class, Mr. Fitzrey Greene, of the second class. Henry Thornton, of the third class, The same distinctions are of daily experience, yet so finely is the sucial line of demarcation drawn, that who shall say where the interests of the lowest termi- nate, or where the interests of the highest begin? ~ | ad CHAPTER IU. THE THREE PASSENGERS, Berore describing the humble apartment in which the Thorntons were now seated, it will be necessary to furnish a few preliminary particulars that may serve to briefly acquaint the reader with the cause of their present po-ition. Mr. Thornton, senior, had been a Liverpool mer- chant, whose estate, having been devoted chiefly to sustain a branch bank with which he had been con- nected. was utterly lost during the memorable panic of 1825. The irrevocable ruin with which he found himself surrounded gradua!ly preyed upon his spirits, and he died a broken-hearted man, after a fruitless struggle to recover his former fortune. His young widow, thus suddenly reduced from affluence to poverty, with two children looking up to her for sup- port, was compe'led to break up her establishment, and retire to a small village near Chester, the better to eke out the slenderannuity which sume friends had purchased for her out of the wreck of her former wealth. Here she had resided for some time, contented with the peaceful seclusion of the place, when, either oppressed with the sense of her own loneliness, or anxious to provide a protector fer ber children, she yielded to the persuasion of her acquaintances, and ventured upon matrimony a second time, forming an alliance with a person named Mordaunt, who, though a@ comparative stranger in the village, bad, by his plausible manner and specious representations, suc- ceeded in acquiring her affection. One-short twelve- month sufficed, however, to dispel all her dreams of happiness. Mordaunt was identified as a well-known ad- venturer, who had been concerned just betore in some extensive schemes of forgery; and owing mainly to the ingenuity of his wronged wife, who misled the officer that came with a warrant for his apprehension, he eladed pursuit, and escaped to America, From this time all trace of him was lost, and from various severe storms having occurred about that time, it was opens tho ship in which he had embarked had «don the passage, Mrs. Thornton—for the of Mordaunt she from that period refused to bear—died shortly a‘terwards in giving birth to a son; and the children, being thus left orphans, were utterly dependent on the tender mercies of a distant relation, who, having a family of his own, was naturally anxious to get rid of bis extra burthens as quickly as possible. As soon, therefore, as opportunity afforded, Emma Thornton was sent off to London under the express care of Madame Duchard, a fashicnable West-end milliner, with whom she was to board and lodge until ber period of apprenticeship had expired. Henry was articled to a tradesman in a quiet country town; and the youngest, on whom had been bestowed the appellation of Frederick, was left with the nurse to thrive until it reached a practicable age. Neicher time nor absence, however, served to abate the deeply cherished affection between the elder brother and ee el -—— — -— THE MYSTERIZS OF LONDON, ~—- — te osireme-=vetgnemnipnineertinsliiise tenet sister; and having maintained a correspondence of nearly seven years, the long anticipated project that — bad been so often dwelt upon in their letters began to assume at last a palpable form, and the day was named that was to behold it put into execution. It was a joyouz anticipation ; for on that day would both brother and sister be released from the bondage of their youth, — on that day they would acquire a mastery over their own actions, would be . only to themselves, and have nothing to control, and nobody to ehide them but their own hearts and each other. They would have the world before them, wherein they hoped to procure, by mutual aid, a creditable competency, and they would at the same time have the consolation of sympathy and society in — the hour of illness or misfortune. Nothing could have been better arranged or mo complete than the preparations Emma had made for their future domestic establishment. Securing, at a moderate rent, two rooms ready furnished in a retired but reputable street, at a convenient distance from the west-end and the city to suit their prospective indi- vidual avocations, she had likewise taken of the nurse’s expedition to town to have her adopted charge brought up and confided to her care, impressed with the consciousness, at least, that no longer could. it be considered as an incumbrance. On the evening succeeding, Henry had announced his belief that he should reach London; and in of this inti- mation Emma had eagerly awaited his arrival in the manner detailed at the openiog of our narrative. No inconsiderable portion of Emma’s slender finances had been expended on the purchase of a few extra — delicacies, to form a tempting repast for the occasion; and when her long-expected guest arrived at last, it was a sufficient reward for her to know, trom his un- bounded admiration of every thing he saw, that the result of ber exertions had been duly appreciated. It would not be easy To imagine a more perfect picture of happiness than was presented by these two happy relatives, whilst thus chatting away the time; for little Freddy, overcome by the excitement and the lateness of the hour, had fallen fast asleep in the chair, in a vain attempt to grasp the dimensions of an unusually thick slice of cake, and was therefore unable to take even a minor part in the conversation. They were happy in their own purity of heart, bappy in their guileless innocence, and happy, too, in their ignorance of the very world they were about to enter; for that knowledge, like the dearly bought wisdom ot our first parents, is, alas! too frequently purchased by — sin and shame. “Come, you have not half done your journey — justice,” exclaimed Emma, as she endeavoured to per- suade him with the “smallest possible ” portion more of a cold veal pie, of her own manufacture; “you must have felt the effects of our smoky atmosphere already.” “ Nay, I think I have given tolerable proof = having my north ‘country appetite in wondrous pre servation, sister mine,” returned the youth laug “ but, to confess the truth, my mind is so fully occu pied with the idea of that vast city which to- I shall have, for the first time, an opportunity « ploring, that I can hardly hope to dream of any thing else. In a great metropolis like this, for one active and willing like myself, employment of some kind or other must be easily obtained; and, thanks to the — education which I have had, there is nothing which I do not feel myself competent to undertake.” “And my own plans for the future are equally Gomichboo im <S.€O