The Young Apprentice; or, The Watch-Words of Old London — page 346: what you’re looking at

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

THE WATCHWORDS OF OLD LONDON. 325 Dream away—dream away, fair maiden |! The horrors of the future find yet no place in that gentle, guileless breast. Meanwhile, the men who had commenced their secret meeting by a wild carousal, waited fora long time impatiently for tbe arrival of the old man who would never more come among them. It was a meeting for a desperate purpose. A meeting to consult upon the best means of restoring Charles II. to his throne. Brave hearts truly these—assembling near a Republican city—to consult on the best means of overthrowing the government, and placing the worthless son of a mistaken father upon the throne, whose grandeur had been so rudely swept away. At length, tired of waiting, and fancying— many of them—that the expected conspirator feared to come, they proceeded to business, and the tall man who had first entered rose to explain their plans. Their first attempt was to be in Scotland. The Scots, he said, were ready for action, the Duke of Montrose was already on his way thither with foreign troops, disaffection pervaded the army, and discontent was in the minds of the people. There only was wanting the unfurling of the royal banner and thousands would flock to the standard, So he told them, speaking in warm enthusi- astic terms, and arousing within their breasts that strange wild feeling of loyalty which was afterwards so productive of slaughter and disaster, Loud were the cheers for “bonnie Prince Charlie ;” clearly they rang out over the heath, and ere the assemblage broke up each man present had sworn upon his sword a terrible oath to be true and loyal to the cause. But where and who was the old man whom they so eagerly expected ? Who and where was the mysterious being who had taken from him the life which was scarcely more than enough to enable him to reach the side of the grave, and who had carried away along the dark river the child of his love 7? Before we answer these questions, we must explain how Leicester escaped from the Temple, and how he made his way to join the con- spirators. Dizzy and confused, with his head aching dreadfully, Lord Leicester opened his eyes, and looked about him, | ‘* John | John !” he said. “ Gracious heavens ! what didI drink last night? John, you vil- lain! Isay. Eh?” Opening his eyes a little wider, Lord Leicester saw that he was not in his own sleeping cham- ber, and that he sat in a chair, and was sur- rounded by objects he had not the least notion of ever having seen before at that moment, Glaring about him with amazement, he said, ‘ What in the name of all that’s——Oh! I am dreaming of course. Oh! yes. Well, go it —goit, This comes of some extra bottle of something last night, I suppose, eh ?” He shut his eyes again for a few momenta, Then slowly opening them, a deep flush came over his face, and he slowly rose to his feet, and clasping his hands, he said, _ “ By Jove! it is no dream ; I know all about it now, Thisis the infernal house of Sir Henry. This is the chamber of Alicia, who, at the very moment I thought I had her all to myself, and that no one could possibly wrest her from me, dis- appeared like a vision. I fell asleep, I recollect. Itis all mazy. There is something of conjura- tion in all this, Am I awake now, though, or not? Oh! my head! my head !—throb—throb. Heavens! what’s to be the end of all this, I should like to know? and what, in the name of all that was indiscreet and mad, made me fall asleep bere, of all places in the world? Oh! ) He sank back into the chair again, and held his throbbing head with both his hands. As Leicester so held his head in his hands, some gleaming of the real state of things began to dawn upon him, and he gasped out, ‘‘The Burgundy! Oh! the Burgundy! Now I know all about it. Let me try and pnt it together.” After a time, Lord Leicester did succeed pretty well in what he called putting together the various circumstances which had made up his then present position. He remembered, with tolerable precision, the freaks in the garden, and the death of the man Blacklock, He remembered then how he had himself made his way into the house of the old lawyer, and how, in an evil moment, he had satisfied his thirst by a deep draught of the Burgundy he had found on the table of the lower room. Then there came back to him, in regular order, the memory of all the events that had happened subsequent to that ill-omened draught of drugged wine, and he comprehended every- thing very well concerning himself, except that he should be alone in the bridal-chamber of Alicia, and how it was that Alicia herself had disappeared. There were certainly mysteries that, for the present, Lord Leicester wag not in a position to athom. He rose to his feet, for he began to feel a little better, and the throbbing pain in his head had certainly to some extent abated; but he hardly had time to give himself a shake, and stretch his limbs, when he heard a key turn in the lock of the outer room door. With a conviction that some one was coming whom he could not possibly escape, and, there- fore, whom it would be prudent to have nothing to say to, if possible, Lord Leicester did the only feasible thing in his power, and that was to drop in his chair again and close his eyes, affecting to be in the same deep sleep from which he had so recently escaped. The door opened, and a slow, heavy footstep approached him. “ Who the deuce is this?” thought Leicester, as he just permitted himself to peep out of the corner of his eyelids, ‘ Ah, Sir Henry, by all that’s unlacky |” It was indeed the old lawyer, come to see if his prisoner were recovering from the sleeping draught. Upon observing that Leicester occupied much the same position in the chair that he had seen him in before, and that his head rested as it had done upon his breast, and that his eyes, to all eS GOVE OO © FAG, —_ \ J ur CO Vie § \ en oy lin