Spring-Heel'd Jack, The Terror of London — page 84: what you’re looking at

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

78 SPRING-HEEL D JACK: But as it rested there, the thought that most likely it was locked caused him almost to fall from the chair. Richard had not once thought of this cireum- stance before. Tt struck him with great violence now. . He had come unprepared to force it, and, if fastened, he had run a terrible risk—undergone an agony of fear for no reward. Then he had not observed the clerk lock it when he placed the book.on one of its shelves. But then, was it probable he had not since done so ? He almost dreaded to confirm or annihilate his suspicions. It was moments of intense anxiety he suffered now, while the thought ran through his mind. But he grasped the knob in his hand, and pulled it towards him. Joy! The door rolled back upon its hinges. But a creaking sound was produced—a sound that at any other time, and underany other circumstances, would have beeen unheeded. Now it grated on his heart, and caused a fresh thrill of horror to run through his system. Could that sound have aroused anyone to a suspicion of what he was doing—of the guilty work he was about ? : He feared it had. Yet, a moment’s reflection told him that it never could have been heard, had a listener stood outside that little room. More freely he breathed again. But his heart still beat, and his limbs tremhled as if he was smitten with the ague. , The door having rolled back, several books were revealed to his gaze as they reposed upon three shelves of the safe. | But one only he sought. His eye detected it on the instant. Its massiveness and black binding pointed out to his strained vision the register in which he had scribbled his name some few hours before. He stretched out his hand to grasp it, but paused as he imagined he heard a sound in the church beyond. , The hand which had nearly touched the book, remained extended, and every nerve was strained to catch a repetition of the imagined noise. Moments flew by, and the silence of the grave reigned throughout the place. “* Whata coward Iam!” he gasped at length. “There is no one here—none could have suspected this errand. Pshaw! I will not be alarmed,” He seized the book and lifted it from the shelf. As he drew it forth, it slipped from his trem- bing hand. ‘Lhe libertine tried to save it, but it fell with a loud bang to the floor, The sound of its fall echoed through the hollow church with a noise resembling the banging of doors. ‘The robber stood fairly appalled. His hair almost stood on end; his heart sank within him, while & sensation of faintness stole over his frame. He clutched at the back of the chair for sup- port. Glaring wildly at the door of the vestry, as if THE TERROR OF LONDON. fearful of some one opening it, he sank down into the chair and held his hand to his heart, gasping for breath. But again all was still as the grave; and sradually the sensation wore off, and he rose to” | his feet. Could he, however, have seen a reflection of his own facein a glass, he would not have recog-— nised it, for it vied with the whiteness of his shirt-front. ‘‘ Let me haste and flee from this place !” ha — cried, half aloud. “This is horrible!” He raised the book from the floor, and, as if — fearful of making another sound, he lowered it gently down on to the table, and silently opened it ‘But though the moonlight which streamed — into the apartment was sufficient to light up the room, it would not permit him to read a single line, or detect a single leaf. . The window was small and draped, and hence the room was not so light as the sacred edifice beyond. “IT must go out into the church and take the leaf by the flood of light that pours through the large window over the altar,’ he said: ‘‘T have little doubt that I should select other than the right one ; but I must be certain, for I could never undergo such another night of misery.” He tiptoed across the room to the door of the | apartment and nervously pulled it open. The shadows were longer than before, and to ; his troubled mind appeared like phantoms stretched along the aisle. | : But he struggled against his fears, and taking the book from the table, carried it into the church. With trembling steps he made his way to the altar railings, on to which the moonlight streamed full and bright ; and resting the book thereon, held it balanced with the left, while with the right hand he turned over the leaves. By strainibg his vision. he could trace the cha- racters therein and he soon found the leaf on which his name and that of Jessie Bolton had been written. As he gazed upon it, his fears vanished; he felt only that he could now destroy that woman’s claim upon him. He took the leaf between his finger and thumb’ and holding it up, he muttered, in a kind of hissing whisper— ‘* Now, Jessie Bolton—for no other name shall you ever be able to lay claim to—I will snap the chain that binds me. The dice, whose evidence I so much feared,lare in my possession, and I can laugh to scorn your threats. myself of your hateful presence—thus do I sever the bonds that bind us together—thus do I hurl- you forth to beggary and despair ! ”’ He was about to tear the leaf away, when a loud, hollow voice at his elbow exclaimed— “ Thus do I prevent the sacrilegous act ! ” The young man turned with a ery of horror, his hand still upon the book, and confronted a tall, cloaked figure, of hideous and repulsive fea- tures, which, standing full in the glare of the moonlight as it streamed through a pane of glass _ painted of a pale blue colour, gave it an aspect Thus do I release — we ae ee SN comicbooks.com |