Spring-Heel'd Jack, The Terror of London — page 297: what you’re looking at

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

299 SPRING-HEEL’D JACK: THE TERROR OF LONDON. a lS . (<0) 9) 2? i a. STC OMG.OOKSaco - resistance,” he muttered. at the window, then along the neatly-gravelled walk, and listened attentively. Through the drawn blind of the upper room a mellow light stole out into the street, and Grasper’s heart beat almost audibly as he gazed upon it. “This is the house,” he muttered to himself ; “for there are the holly trees that Bill Jackson spoke of. I cannot have mistaken the place, for there is no cottage similar to this about here ; and besides, I know the neighbourhood well. Still it would set all doubts at rest if I could but hear her voice—that voice that so charmed me when first she called at my office to see her husband. Ah! there’s a shadow on the blind. ‘Tis hers—it must be hers !” He placed his hand upon the gate, and, lean- ing upon it, watched the shadow till it dis- appeared, together with the light, from the blind. ** Coming down stairs,” said Grasper. ‘* Will she come out? JI must be prepared, and there must be no bungling this time !” He took the cambric again from his pocket, and also a small phial, drawing the cork from which, he placed the handkerchief over the neck of the bottle, poured some of its contents upon it, and then hastily replacing the cork, placed the phial in his pocket. “That will stop her cries, and prevent all “A better assistant than Bill Jackson will this chloroform be, or I am much mistaken. This kerchief placed to her face, and she is powerless to escape me. Now to summon her to the gate.”’ He searced about for a bell-handle, for the little wicket was fastened, and while thus en- gaged he heard the door of the house open. He fell back from the gate, and listened— half fearful lest it might be someone else. But the tones of Jane’s voice came to his ears. “Tis her—’tis her!”’ he gasped, pulling his hat still lower, and grasping the handkerchief tightly in his hand. “Oh! ho! She isagain in my power, and none to save her!” Still further back from the gate he drew, as a footfall echoed on the little gravel walk; and crouching into the shadow, awaited with abated breath. “She must not see me till she has passed through the gate,” he muttered, “or I may yet be foiled. Foiled !—never! Ralph Grasper never was, aud never will be foiled in any undertaking he had set his mind upon. I have sworn to humble her pride, and crush her spirit ; and I will do so, though it hurl me to destruction !”’ Still further back he drew, until he seemed to be a part of the dark boundary that skirted the road; and the next moment tke footsteps ceased, and a key was turned in the lock of the ate. , ; Another moment it swung open with a creak- ing sound, and the next a female figure passed out into the dark street. . Grasper held his breath, but his heart beat so -fiercely, that he fancied she must hear it. The woman passed him without even seeing him. but she had not gone a couple of yards before, with a spring, the old rascal was upon her. He flung his left arm around her neck, and drew her head back. At the same moment, he placed his right hand, which held the handker- chief, firmly over her mouth and nostrils. A short hysterical sob broke from her lips, her body drooped, and she lay a dead weight in his arms. “Ha! ha!” chuckled the merchant, as he withdrew the kerchief, and hastily thrust it into his pocket. ‘I have found you—possess you again ; and, when I lose you, it shall be of my own free will. Now, Spring-heeled Jack, I think I have outwitted you this time!” He raised her in his arms, and bore her quickly towards the vehicle, after casting a hur- ried glance around him, to be sure his actions were not observed by anyone. To reach the carriage was but the work of a few moments, and, lifting her inside, he laid her back on one of the seats, and was about 1o close the door, but hesitated. ‘“{ must make assurance doubly sure,” he said. ‘‘ It has never been my motto to sink a ship for the unwillingness to pay for a penny- worth of tar. Things should be done well, if done at all. She is quiet enough now, but the dose may not be strong enough to keep her so till she is out of the way of all prospect of a rescue. It won’t do to let her escape me now. No, no. Safe bind—safe find. So Ill give her another smell of the opiate.” . He held the kerchief to her face for a moment, then, with a self-satisfied smile, he closed the door of the vehicle and locked it. Mounting the box, he drew his cloak around him and his hat almost over his entire face, and, cathering up the reins, urged on the horse. The vehicle moved away, and soon was out of the dark street, and whirling along the high road to London. ‘Why, this is better than ever I dared hope for,’ he thought, as he plied the whip to urge the animal to greater speed. “If you want a thing done properly do it yourself, is a good old maxim; had I trusted this job to Jackson, the fellow would have bungled over it out of his fear for Spring-heeled Jack, or if he had in- deed succeeded, I should have placed myself in his power, and he would have been a continual drain upon my pocket. I did well to have no- thing to do with him in this venture. He knows nothing, and therefore can say nothing. So I have nothing to fear from him. When Jack finds the girl gone, he will doubtless have his suspicions of me, but there will be no Bill to blab, and suspicion is not certainty, so he will search in vain. Ha! ha! Master Jack, I have done you thes time, You area clever fellow, but not so clever after all as old Ralph Grasper.” And the hoary-headed ruffian chuckled in high clee, ” So elated was he at the presumed success of his mission, that he could not refrain from lash- ing the sides of the beast, which struggled nobly along the road. Had Ralph Grasper seen for an instant the features of the woman he had placed in his vehicle, it is doubtful whether he would have felt so happy in his mind. He had only seen the form of the female, but that was erough for