The Young Apprentice; or, The Watch-Words of Old London — page 218: what you’re looking at

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

THE WATCHWORDS OF OLD LONDON. It ran thus :-— ‘‘ DEAREST CLEMENT,—I can goarcely find courage to write thié letter to you. Yer will be astounded.-over- wheimed with sorrow whem’ you read this; but I have woe nants tmp ip an etal eo a8 ; now as 8 qrr woman cin do #0, ol down Heaven's blessings on you. . “* BLANCHE,” There wag something nunreal—unnat in the tone of the letter which struck Lord Clement’s heart at once. “It is a falsehood—g forgery 1” cried he, wildly. “I will never believe it.” “TI saw it written,” said Harry Martin, “You lie! You lie, caitiff!” exclaimed Villiers, with savage earnestness, “You have some special spite against your mistresa, and would ecraple at nothing which would do her an injury. erhaps, since you eaw this letter written, you can inform me with whom she has “Ican. It is Lord Raymond.” ** Lord Raymond !” * Yes, it was he.” “You saw him ?” “I did, and heard him speak too.” “And yet did nothing to prevent thia foul deed. Oh! Curses on my folly for leaving, for one single instant, in these times, my home and those I love,” | “ I can tell you where he is to be found, my lord,” said Harry Martin, “if you will take the pains to follow him.” “ Follow him, say yon ! to the jaws of the infernal regions!" cried the maddened husband. “Tell me where he is, that I may pursae him at once !” “They have fled towards the Essex coast,” said Harry Martin. “ They are by this time far on the road, and to-morrow, no doubt, they will be at Wheatstone, You will certainly hear of them there,” Lord Clement waited to hear no more. _ An hour saw him dashing away on hig journey. On, on, he went, regardless of all impedi- ments on, on, with panting steed, and bursting ear I would follow him Relays were obtained at any price, and at length he had the satisfaction of pérceiving that he was rapidly fering the place named by his On e Just as he arrived near the town, a storm, which had for some hours been impending, broke over the country. Lord Clement, himself, would have paid no heed to this, but his horse refused to proceed, and seeing, therefore, the rnins of an old abbey near him, he hastened towards it, and tying his horse to a tree near it, he entered. The runing served to shield him from the rain, but that was al]. His position was a dangerous one. With every gust of wind, some portion of the ruins kept falling, and threathened to crush him every moment beneath them. j.f_ - ya Bat he heeded it not, In fact the state of mind he was in made death in any shape without terror, } The violence of the storm abated not, On the contrary, it seemed to inorease every inatant, and was reglly frightful to contemplate and listen to. Suddenly Lord Villiers wag aroused from the deep Iethargy of thought he had sunk ree by hearing the so.1nd of approaching {aot- steps. They seemed to be entering the ruins, ; He rose to his feet, and drew in his breath to Not that he was alarmed. Under any circumstancs he was & man un- used to fear. But—in spite of all the terrible thoughts with pr his mind was hannted—his curiosity was excited, and he determined to gratify it if possible, ~ SS Stil] there was nothing surprising in the ctr- cumstance, as it was more than probable that the sounds only proceeded from some traveller, who had, like himself, sought refuge in the ruins, The footeteps approached nearer, Presently afterwards Villiers saw a stream of light upon the broken pavement, which seemed to proceed from a lantern carried by some- Zz He drew himself behind the ruins of a wall, where he could observe all that and without entertaining much apprehension of being discovered himself; and in a moment afterwards he beheld four tall men in long cloaks enter the space he had just quitted, One of them carried a dark lantern in his hand, and they looked constantly round thdm as if they were fearful of some one being therd to observe them. Villiers had a distinct view of their features, and was certain in a moment of one fact. The first comer was Harry Martin, his treacherous servant. The others, he felt sure, he would at once recognise. They were savage and desperate-looking fellows, and one of them had a peculiar scar on his left cheek. They all bore flambeaux, and they seemed ex- actly the sort of characters who would not hesitate to perpetrate any crime, 4‘ Phere’s not much fear of our being observed here,” said one of them; “for there are not many persons who would seek this gloomy, crazy place, even for shelter from a storm this. “No,” returned Martin; “we shal} be all right if you do not Jet your tongue wag too much, and let Lord Raymond sad Leicester suspect us,’’ “No fear,” said the other. ‘I am not amad- msn that I should ran such a risk.” -“ Oh! don’t stand talking there all night,” cried a third ; “let’s divide the plunder. I didn't ZO OLAA \G (ea y on Gee) =((>' o a) a nt A"