The Young Apprentice; or, The Watch-Words of Old London — page 347: what you’re looking at

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

» a Yo 9 a | f. a A a c aa 326 me | re ~ — Py: y e a _ Ae a + asc ° “Oe mk mR ‘THE YOUNG APPRENTICE; OR, appearance, were closed, Sir Henry concluded, and not without reason, that he was still under the influence of the narcotic. “He must have taken a deep draught,” said Sir Henry, “ to make him sleep so long. I don’t like the idea of the sleep passing off into death in this house, so now that I see there is some cause for alarm, I will goto Fleet Street and get the learned Master Walter, the physician, to come and see him. I know I can depend upon his skill and his discretion.” * Oh, will you, indeed,” thought Lord Leices- ters, “ You are too kind by half.” Sir Henry stepped up quite close to him, and looked him attentively in the face for a few moments, and that was decidedly the severest trial that Lord Leicester had to undergo, for, although his eyes were shut, he had the greatest difficulty in the world to keep his countenance in a perfectly quiescent state under the con- sciousness of such a ecrutiny as he was then subjected to. By a great effort, though, he did manage to keep, at all events, so still, that Sir Henry was deceived, and muttering to himself again his determination to send for the physician he had named, he left the room and carefully locked the outer-door after him. Lord Leicester then sprang to his feet, and looked around him at the chamber into which the light of early dawn was slowly finding its way. “If I wait for the doctor,” he said, “may I be hanged. Escape is the only chance for me now. Escape !—yes, I must get out of this place that is quite clear ; but, then, how that is to be done is, I must confess, not quite so clear.” Lord Leicester took his way into the outer room, and then, placing his ear to the panel of the door, he listened attentively for any sounds that might be in the house. All was, to his perception, still, ‘and he tried the door, but it was fast, and the key even was gone from the outside, “ There is one chance,” said Leicester, as he went back to the door of the inner room and looked if there was a key in the lock of it, “Yes, there is yet one chance, that one key may open both the locks. I will try it.” A pang of disappointment shot across the heart of Lord Leicester as he found that the key of the inner door was much too small to have any action upon the lock of the outer one, ; _ “That chance is gone,” he said, “ and what in the name of all that’s wonderful can I do now?! I don’t like the idea of getting up the chimney, and if I did, it appeara as if it involved the necessity of descending some other one, and that might be anything but agreeable, No, no, that won't do. Ah! I have it—no, no, they never have left the rope ladder still hanging to the balcony. Oh, no, they couldn’t commit that oversight, and yet it is a chance,” _ Quick as thought Lord Leicester made his way into the balcony, and there, sure enough, was the very rope ladder which, by the connivance of Blacklock, had been placed there to facilitate the descent of Lord Leicester with what they hoped and expected would be the insensible form icia. The dull grey light of the dawn was upon the tree tops of the old garden, and the tiny waves in the river were beginning to sparkle on the first ray of sunlight that fell upon them. All in and about the old Temple appeared, if one might judge by the utter absence of sound indicating waking existence, to be in deep and steadfast repose. “ T’ll chance it,’ said Leicester, “ it is the only hope. I have still my sword if I should be hindered by any one, and escape I must, let the consequences be what they may. So here goes.” He cast the exquisitely-made rope ladder over the edge of the old stone balcony, and saw that its lower end just touched the ground, so that it was safe and easy. ‘Adieu, Sir Henry,” he said, in a mocking tone of voice, ‘it is true that you have suc- ceeded in foiling me this time, but I will find where you have hidden Alicia yet, and I will win my wager. There is one comfort, and that is, that neither Sir Henry nor Rupert has pos- session of her, so that the field is still my own.” It will seem by this speech of Lord Leicester’s that his politic and intriguing brain had not conceived the least idea of what had really become of Alicia. He fancied that it was to the cleverness and the good generalship of Sir Henry that he owed his defeat. Any notion that he had been outwitted by the Man Without a Name, did not occur to him at that time. To carefully step over the balcony, and get his feet properly upon the rope ladder, and then descend with caution and deliberation, was the next act of Lord Leicester, and he drew a long breath when he reached the ground in safety. ‘©Good,” he said, “all is well, so far.”’ He then tried, by giving it two or three hearty tugs and shakes, to disengage the rope ladder from the balcony, but he found that it was too securely fastened to come away, so that he was compelled to leave it, or otherwive he would have been glad to get rid of all evidence of the way in which he had left the chamber, “Now am I tolerably lucky,” said Leicester, “taking all things into consideration, for I have escaped during the last twelve hours the sword of Rupert Changeling. Confound him, I owe him a bad turn for that; and I have escaped being poisoned completely by the infernal drugged Burgundy; and last, though, perhaps, not the least of my dangers, I have escaped the learned Sir Henry.”’ As he spoke, Leicester ran acrosa the garden, towards the gate, but a voice from a window, called out, “ Hilloa, hilloa, there 1” ‘What is the matter?” said Leicester. ‘‘ Come—come, I say, how did you get from the window of the worshipful Sir Henry's house? It did not look well.” ‘‘Thank you; good morning,” said Leicester. “ Stop, thief !—stop, thief !” Leicester laughed as he passed out of the garden, and ran through some of the intricate courts of the Temple, towards the Strand. At the gate leading out of the Temple that way, he met one of the watchmen, who opposed his progress, saying, “Stop, stop—there is acry of stop thief in the Temple.” * Took at me,” said Leicester. GOVE OO © - . a y am, “| ef eS CO