The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 256: what you’re looking at

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

THE CONFESSION 229 strange to say, I lay down and slept, and when I awoke in the morning I did not feel as if my dreams had been troubled, so that I was all the more hardened and all the better able to assume an air of perfect innocence. In accordance with my usual duty, I was the first to enter the chamber of the tragedy on that morning. I gave the alarm — But you know all the rest.” Makepeace ceased speaking, and Mr. Slater said, in a solemn voice, ‘‘ You are of course aware that this confession which I have taken down will be produced before the magis- trate in whose presence you will have to stand a few hours hence? ”’ ‘‘T know it,’’? answered Makepeace, in a low voice. “I feel easier now, my mind appears to be relieved of a weight,”’ and then, after a pause, he added, “I shall no longer dread to be left alone in the darkness of this cell.” Mr. Slater and the constable accordingly withdrew; and in the office attached to the station-house they signed their names as attesting witnesses of the murderer’s confession. An hour afterward the constable visited the cell, in order to see that everything was right, for it is customary to maintain a certain vigilance over prisoners charged with very heinous crimes. But as the officer threw the light of the bull’s-eye into the place, a loud ejaculation burst from his lips on perceiving the position in which the captive ap- peared to be lying. This was lengthways on the floor, but with his head raised about a foot and hanging completely back. A nearer inspection, instantaneously taken, revealed everything. There were two small holes close together in the plankwork that formed alike a seat and a bed for that cell. Through these holes Makepeace had fastened one end of his neckerchief, the other extremity was fixed with a running noose about his neck, and thus the murderer had succeeded in strangling himself. It is impossible to suppose that he had contemplated self- destruction at the time when, remorse-stricken, he had made his confession; it must therefore be conjectured that when again left to the awful solitude of that cell, and entombed in its stupendous darkness, his reason had reeled, and he had thus ended his days as a desperate suicide. EGOMIGIOOKS (CO)