The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 176: what you’re looking at

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

THE LAWYER 153 stand, he was about to apply it to the foot of the disinheriting document. But all in a moment, as he half-raised himself up from his chair to lean the more conveniently over the table, he was seen to give a quick spasmodic start, the pen dropped from his hand, blotting the paper with ink, but in the twin- kling of an eye the sable stains were mingled with sanguine ones, for the blood gushed forth from Sir John Steward’s mouth, his head fell heavily for an instant upon the table, then his balance was lost, and he sank backward into the armchair. Cries of horror burst forth; the attorney and the butler hastened to his assistance, but he was past all human aid, — in the madness of his fury he had broken a blood vessel, and it was a corpse that lay back in that chair. Thus all in an instant the poor and humble lieutenant, who was about to be disinherited, cast off, persecuted, and robbed of the maiden of his devoted love, became Sir Edgar Beverley and the possessor of immense wealth. COMIC OOO SS (CO)