Spring-Heel'd Jack, The Terror of London — page 24: what you’re looking at

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

ree eee = - oe ee 18 The man bounded from the room, and reached “He is—he is!” cried Jane. “ Last night he the passage, as Jane opened the door. Before it'stood RalphGrasper and-a policeman. The woman uttered a piercing cry, and started back, and then Grasper and his companion strode’ inks = “T give that woman into custody,” said (irasper, turning to the officer, who had followed him, “‘ for robbing me last night, with the aid of another person, of the cheque which was forged by her husband.” The policeman caucht Jane Slater by the wrist, nes “You are my prisoner,” he said. ; “Prisoner!” cried the woman, with a bewil- dered gaze from one to the other. “Ves, a prisoner !” exclaimed Grasper. “ You |. and your husband shall stand at a criminal bar together !” | ‘Scoundrel !” cried the woman. “ Officer, do your duty,” said Grasper. “ Scoundrel—I say !” cried Jane, her indigna- tion and disgust rising above her sorrows and fears, ‘Dare you come here and accuse the woman you so basely insulted and strove to out- rage! Can you come here without a blush of shame on your face, and charge me with a crime of which you know I never was guilty! Ah, villain—villain !” “T will have justice,”’ said Grasper. ‘Heaven, in its own good time, will mete it out to you,” said Jane, heaving a deep sigh. “ Where’s your bonnet and shawl ?” asked the officer who had hold of her arm. ‘““ Upstairs !” | “Just bring them down with you,’ said the man to the policeman, who had come down to see the cause of the knock, and who stood beside him, listening to all that passed, but never said a word ; ‘* I suppose she don’t want to go without them.’ “Take her off—don’t wait !” said Grasper. “Why not?” asked the man who had been requested to obtain the walking garments, ‘“‘ Because she is a thief !” | “Oh!” said the officer ; ‘‘ but I suppose she is a woman, ain’t she?” “What of that ?”? growled Grasper. “We are not in the habit of treating women like brutes—that’s all,” was the sarcastic reply. ‘‘ Who are you presuming to talk to, sir ?” said Grasper. ‘Not to a man,” was the reply, “ that’s evident !”’ “ What do you mean, fellow ?” 2 “T mean that you are no man to wish to inflict unnecessary pain upou the poor devil who even in an unguarded moment stoops to crime. She may be guilty of what you lay to her charge, but there are many more deserving of punish- ment than those who get it—and a good many, too, I reckon, who are anxious to make it hard for others.” Jane Slater raised her eyes with a look of eratitude to the speaker’s face. “ Fellow—I will report you !” replied Grasper, “T'll have that coat off your back ina very short time. You’rea disgrace to the force !” “And you are a disgrace to humanity,” said the man. ” . SPRING-HEEL’D JACK: THE TERROR OF LONDON. invited me to his house. I went there in the hope that he ‘would extend mercy to my mis- suided husband. Oh, God! at what price did he offer it at—that of a wife’s honour! He held the fatal cheque before my eyes, and told me how I could obtain it to save my husband, I did not steal the cheque from him—it was taken by one whom I never saw before nor since—one whom heaven must have sent to save me from his villainy !” ‘“When did you say that was?” asked the man who had hold of her arm. “ Last night.” “Why, that’s when he gave your husband in custody.” ) “He lured me by false hopes to his house, and would have ruined the wife under pretence of forgiving her husband at the very hour he knew he had placed the officers of justice on his track.” ** All lies—all lies!” yelled Grasper. ‘f Tis true—true as heaven,” sobbed Jane, ‘* Do your duty—lock her up,” roared Grasper, foaming with rage. But the man released his hold of her arm and turned towards him. “IT do not believe she stole the cheque,” he said, ‘‘and would warn you to be careful how you proceed in this business.” ‘““T tell you she did—a cheque forged by her husband, drawn on tlie County Bank, and dated June the 7th.” “This cheque bears that date,” said the officer, who had picked it up from the floor, and now leaned over the stair balustrades, holding it open in his hand. “Is this the one you mean ?” “Yes, the perfidious villain,” cried Jane. | ’ | ti i 7") 1 fat Th} si ar ~ aw - “ Let me see—let me see,” exclaimed Grasper, — bounding up acouple of the stairs and taking it | from the man’s hand. ‘ Yes, this is it; this is the one,” he cried, leaping back to the side of the policeman he had brought with him; “look, — there’s the date, I had it safe last night—she pie it from me. But I will punish her for the eed, clerk—by her husband.” ‘“You must come with me,” said the man; “I must take you, so come quietly.” t ‘* Drag her along if she won’t,” cried Grasper ; “sbow her no mercy. She shall go to prison, and this cheque—this evidence—shall transport them both.” | There is my signature, forged by my . Jane cast one imploring look at the officers, — and then, with a spasmodic gasp, her head fell upon her bosom, and she suffered herself to be led from the house by the officers, while Ralph Grasper, crumpling the cheque in revengeful glee iu his hands, strode along after the prisoner, with his head as erect as if no black spot rested on his heart—as if no qualm of conscience smote his soul for his base and wicked work, CHAPTER VIII. A FRESH LOCALITY—THE PIGEON FANCIER AND THE “SEAMSTRESS—THE FACE IN THE TRAP, In one of those dirty streets, which run out of the Bethnal Green Road stood a small four- cbhooksicon (E(o) | af ’ ' << .