Spring-Heel'd Jack, The Terror of London — page 244: what you’re looking at

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

’ a LL fe . : — — = ~~ SPRING-HEEL’D JACK! THE TERROR OF LONDON. | 246 your ears. Then, when J have told you all, curse me, and let me die.” ‘Curse you, mother? Oh, never, never! ” erjed the youth, as he flung his hat on the little deal table, and sank on his knees beside the bed once more. ‘“ Now, give me your hand, Richard,” she said, ‘“and bend your ear down to my lips.” ‘““Let me raise you up, mother ?” She smiled her assent, and the young man raised her into a sitting position, and supported her with his arm. “Now, listen; for these are the Jast words lL shall speak—words of shame to me—ay, bitter, bitter shame! ”’ She paused, and pointed to the table on which a yellow jug stood, and motioned him to reach it. He did so, aud held it to her lips. “Water !” he said. ‘Oh! would it were swine !” ‘“No matter now,” she said. ‘‘Wine and water will soon be alike to me. Are you listening ?” | ‘* Yes, mother.”’ “You will never call me that name again. Boy, how old are you?” she added, quickly. ‘* Twenty-one,’ was the reply. ? “Twenty-one. Ay, so you have been led to believe, and so have others ; for you were ever an effeminate child, and looked not so old as you are. Richard, you are twenty-four—yes, twenty- four. I cannot mistake, for I have never for- gotten—not for a moment—when you were born. Oh! too well, even now, do I remember that fatal month! I was a’pretty young woman then! so pretty that months before I excited the notice of the rich and handsome Sir Giles Clavering. I was flattered by his attentions, made vain by his notice ; and, in an evil hour, I fell a victim to his wiles. I had flattered myself that the poor servitor would become his wife. But alas ! how soon was the dream dispelled ! for in less than a month he married another— a beautiful, accomplished lady, moving in his own sphere. Bitter was my disappointment! overpowering my grief! But my love for him was strong as ever. But it was’ gall and worm- wood to my proud soul to feel that another’s off- spring would inherit the broad lands I had fondly hoped one day would be the property of mine.” She paused, and then continued— ‘But I must be brief, for the moments fly, and my soul pants to leave its earthly tenement. Time went on, and wife and mistress gave birth, on the same day, each, to a son. As I pressed my little one to my bosom, and im- pressed a mother’s kiss upon its brow, some- thing whispered to me that I should yet see my babe the inheritor of its father’s wealth. From that moment I planned and plotted, matured my schemes, which the devil himself must have aided me to carry out successfully. Are you listening ?” “Yes!” gasped the young man in a choking | boy! Curse—cur” tone. “The young wife, less fortunate than I, was seized with a fever, and great were the fears entertained for her life for more than a month, Consequently, her babe had to be taken from her. hen she-recovered, and asked for it, an —————— infant was placed in her arms. shall I forget the loving way in which she ever gazed upon it. But, Richard, that babe was not hers—it was mine. I had vowed it should inherit its father’s wealth, and changed them—[ taking the real heir to my bosom, she clasping to hers the offspring of sin and shame. Three years passed on, and the deceit was never. dis- covered, and then a daughter was born to Sir Giles. Day by day he became more cool towards me, and though he never suffered me to want, he turned his back at last upon me. Whether shame at his own conduct prompted this, or a dislike to me, I know not. But it made me mad! and I vowed to embitter his © happiness as he had embittered mine. One night his baby girl was stolen from its little cot, and he never saw her more.” “By whom?” asked the young man, his lips quivering as he spoke. “By me. But I did not harm her, as you know. Together we lived in peace and content for years, till want and suffering drove her from me to seek bread by her needle. ‘Then the boy went miles away to work, and I was left alone. In my solitude I reviewed my past life, and regret stole ito my heart. Sir Giles died a few years after his wife, and I was again happy for a time in the knowledge that, after all, my boy came in for his wealth. But I had grown poor, and needed assistance. I sought it at his hands, and he spurned me, called me liar, impostor, and had me hurled from his door. It was but a just reward’ for my sins; but as I had raised him up, I resolved to hurl him down, and do justice at last to you, my poor, kind Richard. Curse me, if you will ; but I could not die without divulging the truth. You are Sir Richard Clavering, and the libertine who enjoys the title is the offspring of my illicit ove ! *’ . “Ts this—can this be true ?”” gaspedthe young man. ; ‘‘As true as heaven! As true as the grave now waits to receive my body, and hide for ever a guilty, heart-broken wretch.” ‘But I never can claim my right. The libertine known as Sir Richard Clavering is’”»—— Dead!” exclaimed a voice behind them. And, looking up, both beheld a tall, cloaked figure in the doorway. | ‘That voice!’’ cried the woman. “ That voice is—is ’’—— ‘ Spring-heeled Jack’s!’ said our hero, ad- vancing into the room. | The woman fell back, and, pointing to the box we have mentioned, gasped— | “There, in that box, are the proofs of my crime and your birth. Secure them. My boy dead, your claim cannot be disputed by him. When—how did he die? Where did he die?” ‘‘In Newgate,’ said Jack. Rs “My sins have found me out,” gasped the 1 woman. ‘‘I am justly punished. Curse me, Her lips moved for an instant, and then were still—and Jack and Richard gazed upon a corpse. | I00 mn COMIC oa om And never Bl ai I /- : ,