The Young Apprentice; or, The Watch-Words of Old London — page 242: what you’re looking at

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

ia 7 (I 4 2G r= Cw (TF ~6 - .< iv THE WATCHWORDS OF OLD LONDON. FAS 223 alone, “ well, it is as I prophesied to you long since,” ‘¢In regard to the king ?” ‘Yes; he is in the bands of his enemies— men who thirst for his blood, and who will never be satisfied until his head rolls from the block amid the shouts or the groans of a multitude. He must be saved,” “ And how ?” ‘‘Those gentlemen who, on a former occasion, came from France for thia purpose, have made their appearance again.” ‘‘Good. Why are they not with you?” “For a simple reason—they feared to raise suspicion. This house is not the best of all places for a conspiracy, let me state.” “No, traly ; bit I conld meet them at any point they choose to name.” “At the ‘Golden Fleece,’ then; the very centré of the Roundhead councils, In his own den the lion will scarcely dream of looking for us,’® “True. Bat can you give me no outline of the plot?’ ‘T can. There is a way of entering the Palace of St. James’s which none know of except the king’s friends.” 66 Good 99 ‘‘ More than this; there is within the Palace a Paritan soldier, one Harry Martin, who is capable of being bribed. ‘‘Thatis better still,” ‘Yes, This Martin is now watching over the king. We must gain admittance by this secret passage, gain access also to the king's room and carry him off. The forcs required will not be great, and if we are discovered, Charles must escape in the melee,” ‘‘ A bold and good, but a dangerous plan.” “ Nothing can be done without danger.” “Trae. But is this the only plan ?” ““No. IE this faila, we must stir up disaffec- tion among the Puritan troops, disguise our band in the Roundhead uniform, and create a riot round the scaffold.” Harrok Dyser smiled bitterly. “ He is not judged yet,” he said “and yet. you speak of the scaffold.” ‘I do,” said Clement Morpeth, “ for in the minds of those who are to judge him, he is already a dead man !" “ How know you this?’’ asked the mounte- bank, “Spies in the camp of the enemy keep us pretty well versed in all their transactions,” he It should then be all the more easy to thwart them.” “It will be. Through these spies we shall know (if the king is condemned, which he wild be) the exact time when he will be executed. Then we sha)l not run the risk of failure,” ‘True. You arguerightly. Bat do you thiok that this fearful deed will be done? Do you think they will dare to enact sach a scene in this our City of London ?” “Dare! Aye, they would dare more than that, However, at eight to-morrow night, meet us al the ‘Golden Fleece.’ They will be glad to receive one who acted so bravely in defence of his quecn.”’ The mountebank bowed. * Yet in all this,’ he said, “T do not see how I can agsist, or what part I can take in this air.” ‘More than Phd imagine, Dyser,” returned Clement; “and now, farewell: Remember me to your pretty daughter. But tell me, is that fair flower bestowed upon that solemn-looking youth I saw but now.” “ That depends upon his goodness and loyalty,” said Harrok Dyser. ‘I fancy the girl loves him well, But at any rate it can be xo concern of yours.” Clement Morpeth laughed. “ Well, well,” he said, “stranger things have happened than the taking of a lover's interest in one so fair and gentle. But of that anon. These times are so full of war, that one has no time for love.” With these words, he walked towards the door, and after shaking the mountebank’s hand, quietly passed ont. While this scene was taking place in the bouse of the mountebank, two figures had been watch- ing and waiting without. The neighbourhood of Harrok Dyser’s dwell- ing was, as we know, very dark and lonely. Houses, truly, were scattered about, Old shops and warehouses—different, indeed, from the gigantic mansions of the present day— were spread about ; but there was very little life in the vicinity after the first hours of darkness, So any strange watchers were undisturbed, and the two cloaked figures, who were hiding away in the dark lane, were unseen by any. Beheld, beneath even the gloomy light of the murky oil lamp, their features would easily have been recognised, The one face hideous, slaister, full of vengeful hate; the other replete with crafty cunning. The two, in plain truth, were Peter Quelf, the dwarf, and Captain Lackland, the Al:atian. Since hia last essay at fighting, and his successful escape from Simon Lawless, he had kept remarkably quiet. His good sword, “ Armida,” had done for a short time a remarkable and unusual amount of service, and as this service had been performed upon both sides of the question, he knew that from both sides he stood a very rare chance of accomplishing his own downfall, The king being now in London, anja grand attempt being about to be made to rescue him from the hands of the Puritans, both Peter Quelf and his friends were once more on the alert. Friendly as the mountebank was to the cause of Charles I., and attached as Quelf himeelf was also to the cause, they yet could not meet to discuss the subject. The diabolical design which the dwarf had conceived and carried out in regard to the mountebank and his daughter, rendered such a meeting impossible, Compelled as Quelf was, however, to act in unison with Harrok Dyser, he resolved to make the Royalist conspiracy the means for further- ing his schemes, He had never ‘yet forgiven Nelly Dyser for the part she had taken when he had succeeded in worming himself into the good graces of the mountebank—never forgiven her for the hate which she had taken no pains to conceal. WOOK GONE DO Oks . - CO