The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 246: what you’re looking at

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

TWO FRIENDS 219 Closing the door, he was advancing into the midst of the encumbering assemblage of goods, when he was suddenly startled by the appearance of the colossal skeleton. Seized with dismay, the Burker sank down upon the seat which Mr. Bealby had recently occupied, but it was only for an instant that the Burker’s consternation lasted. He was not the man to be long overpowered by such a spectacle, and starting up, he muttered to himself, “‘ By jingo! I ought to be more afeard of the livin’ than of the dead! ”’ He looked around him in search of some suitable disguise, but he was bewildered by the variety of the articles which met his view, and the confusion in which they were amassed pell-mell. He knew not what course to adopt. To steal out of the house, dressed as he was, would be to risk immediate capture, for it was into Bow Street that he would have to pass. Every instant was precious; Bealby and his friend would be quickly returning. Even if he flung on some dis- guise selected from the choice around him, he might encoun- ter them on the stairs, or at the door, or perhaps in the street itself, and the archeologist would raise a hue and cry at the appearance of his own property thus making its escape on the person of a stranger. The position was most critical, but a thought struck the Burker. ‘“‘ These chaps are as precious a pair of rogues as ever one would wish to meet,” he said to himself; and then, hastily drawing from his pocket the bank-notes given him by March- mont, he counted them over. ‘‘ Ninety pounds!” he mu- singly ejaculated, ‘‘ and these fellers want a matter of twenty or thirty. By jingo, it’s my only chance! ”’ Scarcely had he arrived at this conclusion when he heard the front door open and shut, and he at once slipped behind the mandarin’s robe, which was stretched upon the wooden frame in the same way that gentlemen’s morning-gowns are displayed at the doors of haberdashers’ shops. Almost immediately afterward Bealby and his friend Ben Limber reéntered the room, with a fresh supply of liquors and cigars. It would seem that during their absence some further conversation on business matters must have taken place, for as Ben Limber threw himself down upon his seat, he ejaculated, ‘‘ ’Pon my soul, Bealby, this new idea of yours is &@ capital one. What a terrible nuisance it would be if any one else should take it up! ”’ EOMIIGIOOKS (CO)