The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 384: what you’re looking at

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

THE SUBTERRANEAN 353 “ Are you sure?’ and he looked the woman very hard in the face. ‘Quite sure,’ she replied, with the coolest effrontery, which indeed was all the more natural inasmuch as at the instant she was telling the truth. ‘ He’s at Liverpool, sir, and if you want anything in the gold-beating way — ”’ ‘Shut the door, Tom,” interrupted the tall man, turning around abruptly to his companion. ‘“ Beg pardon, ma’am,’’ he continued, coolly walking into the parlour, whither Mrs. Smedley followed with the light, “‘ but this is no time for ceremony. We’re officers, and we want your husband.” ‘“‘ Officers!’ and Mrs. Smedley affected to give a shriek of dismay, as if quite unprepared for the intelligence that thus burst upon her. “ Want my husband — ”’ “Yes, and I’m thinking we’re likely to find him too,” promptly rejoined the officer, as he glanced at the table. ‘A late supper, evidently served up in a hurry, no table- cloth, nor nothing tidy, and two tumblers. Come, ma’am, it’s no use playing the fool with us; your husband is in the house, and we must search for him. There’s a couple of my men at the back part of the premises, and Tom there is keep- ing the front door. So there’s no chance of escape. You had better — ”’ ‘Good heavens! what has my poor husband done? ”’ exclaimed Mrs. Smedley, as if overwhelmed with grief. ‘ But it is impossible. Jack is as quiet as the child unborn, and a pious man too, — such a pious man.” ‘“T’m sorry to say,’ interrupted the detective officer, for such he was, “ that if you don’t really know anything about it already, you’ve lost your mother.” ‘““My mother,” ejaculated Mrs. Smedley, with a great show of wild astonishment and grief; ‘‘ you don’t surely mean that she has been tried — and — and — already — ”’ “ Executed? ” said the officer, calmly finishing the sen- tence for Mrs. Smedley. ‘“ No, not exactly. She’s cheated the hangman. In plain terms, ma’am, she poisoned herself in the middle of last night. Your husband took the very first train from Liverpool this morning; he was tele- graphed up, but somehow or another we just now missed him at the Euston Square Station, though we afterward learned that such a person did arrive this evening by that particular train. However, we know he must be here.” CONNICLOO© <S (CO)