The Skeleton Crew; Or, Wildfire Ned — page 126: what you’re looking at

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

120 THE SKELETON CREW; OR, WILDFIRE NED. oes be a SS el CHAPTER XXXV., IN WHICH SOMETHING IS SAID OF PHILLIP REDGILL, OLD SIR ANDREW, AND IN WHICH ONE OF PHILLIP’S VICTIMS IS MADE A HAPPY MAN AND A FATHER. Uvon the elegant house, and its fashionably dressed inmates, in Minerva Street, of which Phillip had heard many strange rumours, Mr, Redgill never bestowed a single thought, although he had more than crude suspicions of who the much-talked-of “ Madame Fannie St, Claire ” might be, Old Sir Andrew had never thought of asking Phillip anything regarding his daughter. She had separated from her husband he full well knew, but as Phillip never broached the subject, Sir Andrew, for purposes of avarice and greed, refrained from doing so. “She has made her own nest,” he would some- times say to his old and asthmatic wife, propped up in her arm-chair beside the fire, “therefore let her lie in it. “T don’t know nor care where she is. Don’t bother me with your | questions and nonsense, woman. I have something else to think about. “T don’t care what has become of her—there. Don’t sit there snivelling, you old fool, or I’ll leave the place altogether. . ‘In a few weeks, I hope, I shall be doing business in the City, and not in this miserable hole, with a crabbed old woman coughing all day and night. “What’ll folks think then of old, Sir Andy; as they call me, when I appear on ’Change again, and with a large banker’s account at my back ? ‘ What’ll they say then to the old president of the Phenix Insurance Company, whom they refuse to speak to, or even recognise now, eh ? ‘* quits. “T’)] show ’em all what money can do. I’m just as honest as any of ’em ; it’s all speculation in this world ; so long as you’ve got the cash you needn’t care a snap of your finger for any of ’em. “Don't sit there prating, you old hag! If you open your lips again, I'll squeeze the life out of you, I will; you miserable old thing. I hate the sight of ou!” And, from the number of times that old Sir Andrew raised his chair in anger, it seemed probable that at some time, in moments of fury, he really would send the aged and afflicted woman un- expectedly into eternity. Augustus Fumbleton, Esq., it must be confessed, was not at all troubled with matrimonial jars or grievances, ; He was not a married man, but, as he often expressed it, “soon would be.” “In a month or two, all this business of Phillip’s will be over, and then I'll settle down,” he thought, “turn over a new leaf, and have his wife for my mistress. What a head old Sir Andrew, her father, has got to be sure. “He attends church regularly, I hear, and is looked upon out in the country as a perfect ‘ saint.’ “ Ah, church-going folks ain’t always the best, There’s many a man sits with a prayer book in his hand who’s thinking of something else. Never mind, we'll do this little trick and then I’ll cry 999 If Messrs. Redgill, Sir Andrew and Fumbletcn ‘were situated as we have described, Charley War- beck, Ned’s brother, was in the greatest sorrow and concern for the safety of his young wife, anc very despondent in spirits. | NOW READY, THE BOY SATLOR; LIFE ON BOARD A MAN-OF-WAR. This will be found one of the most exciting and powerful tales of the day. The scene of the story is laid in| Cornwall, and it abounds with the wild legends and strange adventures of the daring wreckers and smugglers that haunt the bays and inlets of that rocky coast. FOUR ENGRAVINGS, IN A HANDSOME COLOURED BORDER, GIVEN AWAY WITH. NUMBERS 1 and 2. ORDER EHARLY. 24 JA67 icomiicbooks,co ONE PENNY WHEKLY. 3