The Mysteries of London; or, Lights and Shadows of London Life — page 56: what you’re looking at

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

a a eee eee Sey . — ee eee ee 48 was not only one who seemed to be familiar with the Maat of renee) 4 but who, notwithstanding the fatigue which she had undergone, was yet personally attractive, and who exhibited traces of unquestionable superiority to the station which he was at first dis- posed to assign her. His heart acknowledged in- stinctively the presence of one who was worthy of being beloved, and he involuntarily yielded to emo- tions that love and gratitude both united to produce. “Your timely help was doubly fortunate, my pretty one,” he exclaimed, as Mary, trembling lest they should be seen by Hawkins and her father, whom she momentarily expected, sought to draw him from the spot; “striking a chisel into the wall, I displaced a brick, and, as this fell, a canvass bag rolled out, which geemed to have been concealed in a hole behind it. Tt is full of silver, as you see. Since chance chooses in this manner to fling us a reward for past@inoy ances, it is but fair you should receive the benefit of it;”’ and he proffered her the money he had found, * Not a shilling of it, sir,” earnestly declined Mary ; “itis your own. I am sure it must be; for it is with an intention to rob you of what you possess that they will come hither. Do not, I beg of you, tarry an in- stant longer. On this open ground concealment is impossible. Four miles across the pastures in that direction will bring you near to Barking; of your fature course you are the best judge; but, for my sake, fly from here. If I have deserved your thanks, show that you can reward me by instantly quitting this hateful spot.” “Tt woule seem as if you were determined to mys- tify me,” said Alfred; “for money ought to be the last motive that should impel a hand to be raised against me, since I haye not a sixpence in the world but thatI earn, Beyond having a faint recollection ofa struggle on the river, and a smart blow that came soon afterwards, I knew nothing of the way in which I was brought here, until a churlish old uncle of mine, and a big bully that accompanied him, but whose face I could not see in the twilight, enlightened me a little, and made me give up my boxes to them under a threat of starving me into compliance. It may be, however, as you say,” he added, thoughtfully ; “the miserly wretch may want to rid himself of one that he thinks likely to become an incumbrance to him. Now I have got my arms at liberty, however, they shall find I will not tamely submit to hard blows without returning them with interest.” “Think not of defending yourself now,” urged Mary, imploringly; “ but away at once, and since the means of flight have been so happily placed within your power, come not again within your uncle’s reach. See,” she cried, fixing her eyes intently upon a small speck that now appeared on the bend of the river, which was glimmering in the morning sunlight; “from this hillock you may perceive their boat turn- ing round the point, Let me not again have to urge my only requeet.” “Well, then, my fair deliverer,’”’ cried Howard; “you must be my guide as you have been my guardian. I will exert myself to find the real owner of the money that I have so luckily stumbled over; and, in the meantime, only borrow enough to meet the emergency of the moment, But your own safety must be looked to—this is no place for a young woman to be in alone at such an hour as this, Do you reside near here?” “I live close to Radcliffe Highway,” responded Mary, casting down her eyes as she saw the gaze of her companion inquisitively fixed upon them, “ but —_—— — << .- — — — —— a — ee 7 THE MYSTERIES OF LONDON. = ———— a o— Er 4 Oe | + Be +S Oke oe eee = Oe ask me nothing more. Accident enabled me to be the humble means of saving you, perhaps, from a violent death, and the very circumstances that gave me power to do this compel me to be silent respecting my name and home, Our paths now lie in different directions, and I must here bid you farewell.” “Stay, one moment; tell me your Christian name, that I may cherish some association of the scene that has brought us so strangely together, and I will in- quire no farther?” “ Mary,” was the faltering response, as she reluc- tantly drew away the hand that he clasped so ar- dently in his own, “Then, Mary,” exclaimed Howard, with accents of endearing tenderness, “since by that , : wish henceforth to be resseuindeed, say tant il me that we shall meet again—meet, too, under happier — circumstances than the present; but, before we part, the father of a child that I had saved from drow: Take this from me, and with it the grateful recollec- tions of Alfred Howard,” As this was said, he drew the trinket from his neck, to which it had been suspended by a piece of ribbon, and placed it in her hand, at the same time eyin the other respectfully to his lips. Another moment, and she saw him i wards a little undulation, on which were clustered a few trees, that might have served as a landmark, and past which she had instructed him to go. As he arrived here, he turned round, waved an adieu to her with the handkerchief that he had untwisted from neck, and she saw him no more, As for Mary, footsore and exhausted with the journey she had undertaken, it was with no little pleasure that she reached again her own door. On her road home she had been fortunately able to obtain a conveyance that brought her back nearly all the way in a covered van, which had been moving some furniture into the country on the night, The driver happened to know her, as he lived in the same street as the bird-fancier; and as she told him that she had accompanied her father to the fields that morning, he saw nothing in her position or jaded appearance to oceasion surprise. Feigning that she had lost the key, and offering the same explanation to the old shoemaker, her opposite neighbour, who had just taken down the shutters of his shop, the worthy cordwainer quickly procured for her another from a marine store in the vicinity; and with this she obtained an entrance. As the key of the inner stair- case, she perceived, had been left in the lock, there was no difficulty in reaching her own apartment; and overcome by great bodily fatigue and the re- action of the spirits from the exciting adventure gone through, Mary sank upon the bed with a vari of thoughts floating through her mind, from the image of Alfred Howard was at least not Nature, however, at last asserted its sway, and she fell into a profound and refreshing slumber, CHAPTER X., THE MURDER IY THE MARSHES, WE have little occasion to remind the reader who has extended his summer steam-boat excursions down the river below Woolwich, that for some distance along the coast on the Essex side there is little to be seen beyond a wearisome succession of flat swam y pastures, the shelving banks of which are of a soft Gomichboo <S through the marshes to- — (eo) m Pa