The Mysteries of London; or, Lights and Shadows of London Life — page 147: what you’re looking at

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

LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF LONDON LIFE. 141 glance, and crumpling up the leaves into his desk with @ visible show of vexation. “Read them!” eehoed the other, with a sneering laugh. “ Do you think I could forbear being curious _ im such a matter more than other people? A pretty piece of biography it is, and must have enlightened _ the earl a good deal. I should never have disturbed him till he had devoured every word of it, and found - out what a rascal he had got about him; only that, as ill luck would have it, he caught a glimpse of my ugly head, and ¢hat frightened him, so I was glad to be off before he called for assistance.” “ Well, you never will betray me?” spoke the agent, | warily, as with an assumption of confidence he sought to show a feeling of friendly reliance on the fidelity and discretion of his accomplice. “I need not be afraid of you—you to whom I have already been so liberal, - and who will yet have more to claim from me?” “ That depends upon what you may do yourself _ hereafter,” was the rejoinder, given in a consciously ee - “ triumphant tone, whilst every word made Jarvis wince as they reached his ear; “1 always like to make my- self secure, and by holding ethers in subjection, I can prevent their turning round upon me. Now such a thing might at one time or other occur to you, and therefore it was that I armed myself with a knowledge of these circumstances in readiness.” Jarvis felt that he had somewhat overreached him- self; but to remove from the mind of Bazzini an idea _ that he had any impression of the kind, he renewed i tomes Pl — Ss we es te Se Sages 5 i iS Re a mr eee a ee —————————— his assurances of friendship, at the same time that he inwardly regretted he had been compelled to employ so dangerous a man as an assistant. “ Well, if we know that we can trust each other, I am content; but what has become of that Mordaunt that I spoke of just now?” reminded the Italian. “ He was drowned off Newfoundland in a ship which was bearing him away from the consequences of an extensive forgery he had committed,” replied Jarvis; “and one that I had so planned as to throw the whole upon him.” “And in which you seemed to have borne the part, and wbtained the greatest share of the profits,” remarked Bazzini; “but you treated him rather unfairly in this matter, I suspect.” “T hated him!” exclaimed the agent, warming under the recollection of his animosity. ‘ We were clerks together in the same bank, and he was always being pointed out to meas a pattern of integrity and honour, and an example that I should profit by and follow. The reiteration of these praises first caused my aversion, and then I resolved to be his ruin. He was of a frank and unsuspicious nature, and by subtle I contrived to wean him slowly but surely from what he called his strict and rigid notions of duty. Iiured him on first to drink, then to play; and the money he lost by gambling made him come to me _ for funds. I lent him cash for further trials, then him for repayment, and threatened him with exposure should he refuse. To satisfy my demand he _ had recourse—as I knew he must have—te the chances of play again, and then he lost still more. I whis- pered to him that a small portion out of the large amounts that daily passed through his hands would not be missed, and pointed out how easily it could be replaced. The bait took. He became involved still deeper, readily consented to assist me in a scheme for issuing fraudulent cheques that his defalcations might not be known, and then he fled in terror from the consequences, and my triumph was complete.” “And you had the satisfaction of making your revenge a source of profit too, it seems,” observed the Italian; “but what followed?—for this is an affair after my own heart.’’ “He thwarted and crossed me in every thing,” pursued Jarvis, without heeding the remark of his auditor, as if he went on speaking more for the relief of his own feelings than for the information of his companion: “even in loye we were rivals together; and he, as usual, bore away the prize. When I had got rid of him, I renewed my old attachment to his wife, but she rejected me, and I vowed to have as sure & vengeance upon her, In return for the contemptuous repulse that [ met with, she was beggared through my means, and died soon after, broken-hearted, with her children scattered helpless orphans on the world It was a glorious recompense for all the taunts and sneers I had endured through him.” “And then you wound yourself into the confidence of the earl?” continued the Italian, inquiringly. ‘I had done so before then,” rejoined the other; “and having once made myself useful to him, he did not dare to discard me; for I had so contrived to take advantage of the position I held, that he was kept in ignorance of the real revenue of the estate that was placed under my management. In another year I should have been myself its owner, had not that con- ‘eunded meddling baronet, whose likeness to the fellow M-rdaunt only increases the hate I Lear him, stepped in and exposed me just as I was congratulating myself on the success of the entire transaction.” “You have not yet lost every chance of re-instating yourself in the good graces of the earl,” added Baz- zini, in a significant manner, “if 70a choose to abide by the proposition I am about to make to you.” “Ha! tell me how can this be done?” cried Jarvis, brightening under the influence of the hope that dawned within him; “ for unless those letters he sent to Lord Walsingham, and which I teok so much trouble to obtain, can help me in the matter, I know of no other means.” “It is by the possession of that infurmation that I see the prospect not only of strengthening yourself in your former capacity, but even of assuming additional authority over the earl, and compelling him to sub- mit to any terms you may choose to dictate.” “Such was my own belief and intention, when I procured them through the artifice you discovered,” said Jarvis; “but my ambition took no higher reach than the hope of holding a threat over the earl, should he discover the sums I had received upon his account, and dispute my right to retain them.” “ Listen,” said Bazzini, ‘In those letters we have the admission, in the earl’s own handwriting, that the estate he now holds was obtained by a conceal- ment of the rights due to another, and we can act upon this disclosure,” “1 must first tell you that the position of the earl is rather singular,” interrupted the agent; “and if you intend acting upon this determination—for I see the aim you have in view—it is necessary that you should be made acquainted with the full particulars.” “ Are you acquainted, then, with more than is here mentioned?” asked the Italian. “It was chance that proved my friend,” resumed Jarvis; “and, unknown to the Earl of Winterton, I found during my researches at Bradley Hall some private memoranda, in the late earl’s handwriting, that put me upon the right track, and first incited me to examine closely the correspondence which the earl had with Lord Walsingham.” “ And that you have, of course, carefully preserved {” “COMMU OVS (EO) im