The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 98: what you’re looking at

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

ANOTHER PLOT 79 to prove that the padlock had been neglected by the under- keeper, and the natural surmise was that the reptile, by dint of its own muscular action, had succeeded in raising the glass. The circumstance was whispered to some of the most trustworthy of the men employed on the grounds, and a search was instituted for the missing snake, but it is scarcely necessary to inform the reader that this search terminated unsuccessfully. The matter was consequently hushed up, and to those who inquired what had become of the cobra, the response was given that it had died. COMMICOO© <S (CO)