The Works of George W. M. Reynolds — page 387: what you’re looking at

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

oO THE COURT OF LONDON nounces him guilty of felony, whatever he possesses instan- taneously belongs to the Crown. ‘The day before his trial EKmmerson had entrusted all his money to his wife. In varlous ways, such as the expenses of the sponging-house, the cost of his defence, his family’s maintenance, and so forth, he had expended about a hundred and fifty guineas, but he had still seventeen hundred guineas left, and it was exactly this sum which he had confided to Mrs. Emmerson. Into her hands did he give it because he had not on earth a triend whom he could trust, no, not one; and though he had sore misgivings when making up his mind thus to place his all in the possession of a frivolous, extravagant, thoughtless woman, who, moreover, had no real affection for him, yet was he compelled to do so. Necessity ruled him, and there was no alternative. At all events, he saw that it was better to incur whatever risk there might be in letting his wife become the guardian of his treasure than to keep it about his person, only to be taken possession of by the sheriff in the name of the Crown. When seated in his condemned cell, after the trial, alone, and with the chains upon him, and when, too, his mind becan to be filled with that horrible clearness which was now so frightfully dispelling all doubts as to the awful reality of his position, his ideas settled upon that amount of seventeen hundred guineas which he had deposited in his wife’s hands. But why did the wretched man suffer his thoughts thus to revert to his gold? Was not every tie that had through life bound him to the attractions of lucre now severed by the doom which left him for death? No, no, ten thousand times no! While there was life there was hope, and Emmerson, still catching at straws in his drowning agonies, buoyed himself up with the hope that his gold might serve as a means to accomplish his escape. It was a large sum, and were not turnkeys bribable? To be sure, and suppose that he began by offering five hundred guineas? If this amount would suffice to purchase his safety, he should yet have twelve hundred left wherewith to begin the world anew in another clime. But even supposing that he had to pay a thousand guineas as the bribe for his escape, still there would be seven hundred left for himself, and how much could be done with such an amount! Or even if he had to give every guinea in order to bribe the greedy turnkeys, would it not im EORNIELDOOKS4(EC)