The Young Apprentice; or, The Watch-Words of Old London — page 177: what you’re looking at

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

FALE 5.) THE YOUNG APPRENTICE. he cried, ‘Ha, ha! my friend Leslie, the one you affect to despise will make sad havoc in your home now.”’ Suddenly, however, as he neared the secret door, he changed his tone. The roar increased. “Hal? he cried, stopping. that ?"” ‘‘My friends,’ exclaimed Ettie, joyously, though her senses were nearly gone. The dwarf uttered a loud curse. ‘ Ah!” he said, “if you utter a sound which will bring them to your assistance, you shall die—die this moment. Have a care, then— have a care. I have not forgotten the blow you gave me in this honuse—I have not forgotten how you struck at me with your father's sword, to take my life. No, no, Ettie, sooner than you shall escape me now, I will seize you in my arms, and plunge headlong down this dark, dismal staircase.”’ } He felt a visible shudder pass through the girl's limbs, “Ah!” he cried, “you tremble. Well you may—well you may. Ah! there is Harold's voice ; there is—ah! it is not Harold—it is Ben Pirebrace. By Heaven ! I shall be trapped like a fox.” He plunged forward heedlessly. ‘Curse the place!” he cried, as he closed the door behind him, and found himself in utter darkness. ‘Curse the place! how dark and gloomy it is. Where is the lamp that used to shine here ?” He felt his way for a few steps, and found the iron balustrade of the staircase. He uttered a cry of joy. “Ah!” he cried, “I can feel my way now. We are on the winding staircase that Jeads to the subterranean vaults. Your friends will find a difficulty in reaching you there.” Hie now descended rapidly—as rapidly as he would have done in the daytime—for, having once started, he knew that he should meet with no impediment ere he reached the bettom. ‘ As soon as they arrived in the subterranean vaults, where, upon a former occasion, Quelf and the conspirators had met, he halted and rested. - All was in complete darkness. It was impossible to see before your hand. “Oh! God!” cried Ettie, “where am I?” The dwarf laughed, } ‘‘Hal hal” he shouted (rather than said), ‘hal ha! You tremble now; you tremble now. You will tremble more yet.” “Oh! kill me at once,” exclaimed Ettie ; “but do not bury me alive.” ' “No fear of that,’ said the dwarf, as he Jit his dark lantern, “you are going to the death- trap, there you will meet your friends! Come, follow me.” " The girl obeyed mechanically. She was now under the influence of fear, and was eager to escape from the place whose very smell was a horror. : Stumbling over stones, falling over large blocks of fallen masonry, they at length reached the opposite side of the vault and arrived at an iron-bound door. This the dwarf opened with a key. He knew it well. ‘What sound is NOTICB.— ANOTHER PEAUTIFUL PICTURE, PRINTED IN SEVEN COLOURS, WAY WITH NO. 93. Ot WILL BE GIVEN It was the door which had admitted the con- spirators on the night when the revolving statue of the Virgin had saved the life of Harold Fordyce, Within this door was a winding staircase, half way up; the reat was wide and led away in ove atraight line towards a vast room. This room bad ten doors within it—five on each side. It was painted red—the floor, the ceilings, the walls also, save the ten doors. These were black |! ‘Oh! horror!” exclaimed Ettie, “ whither have you brought me?” ‘‘To the Death-trap,” said Quelf. ‘ Here, this door is yours.” Before she had time to remonstrate, one of the ten black portals was opened, and she was thrust in amid utter darkness. CHAPTER XXVI, LORD VILLIERS’ UNCLE—THE ASSASSIN-—THE FALSE CHARGK—THE ARREST—BLANCHE IN PERIL—THE MEETING IN THE CHAMBER OF DEATH. In order to explain the strange meetings which took place in this hidden Chamber of Death, and before following the fortunes of Harold Fordyce and his master, we must take our readers to the house of Lord Clement Villiers, where he and his wife and his uncle, Lord Har- court, resided together. Lord Harcourt was a Puritan by profession, but he was little else than a Cavalier in reality ; and on many occasions he has owed his life to the intercession of Lady Blanche or her husband. On this evening when Ettie was so suddenly ensnared by Quelf the dwarf, the villain, Kad- stock, had been hovering round the place for hours. . Eager as he always was to do the biddings of his masters, he had special reason for this deed —vengeance ! Lord Clement Villiers had, like Harold and the armourer, been called away upon a mys- terious errand. Blanche, distressed and in fear, was in the drawing-room, while in the next apartment lay Lord Harcourt asleep, his white hair falling over his white brow. He was a bad and treacherous man, but as he lay asleep, it seemed truly a terrible deed to take from him his life, Presently the casement stirred. . He moved not. . His sleep, produced by heavy draughts of wine, required more than this to disturb. . The casement was pushed again, then opened, and Radstock entered. “The time has come! the time has come!’ muttered the villain, “The time has come! How dark the room is! How frightfully silent is everything ! Death seems to hover over this chamber! Now, now for the act, which will secure my vengeance—now for the deed which will make my foes tremble, and curse the day they injured me!”’ hers will follow in a few weeks. CADILNAAIE as @ OKO)