The Young Duchess; or, Memoirs of a Lady of Quality — page 299: what you’re looking at

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

————— tions, to which Petronoff listened with the most perfect calmness, smoking his pipe, and occa- sionally giving a slight nod of approval. ‘“‘It must be close upon one o'clock,” said Petronoff, when the Frenchman had finished speaking. “Yes— and therefore we must get to work at once,” replied Ponchard. They raised a trap-door, and descended into the cellar. There lay the corpse precisely as they had left it the night before, with the knife still stick- ing in the breast. They listened at the door of communication with the kitchen—and all was still. Ponchard proceeded to extract the knife, the blade of which was deeply stained with blood ; but no blood now flowed from the wound itself, for up- wards of twenty-four hours had elapsed since the death-blow was stricken. ‘“‘ Here,” whispered Ponchard to Petronoff, as he produced a small phial containing some very potent acid, “clean that knife—-it will not take you above a minute—and we must not leave a single trace of this night’s business anywhere upon our path.’ Karl Petronoff hastened to obey the instruction of his comrade, while Ponchard himself proceeded to examine the pockets of the murdered man. He found an old pocxet-book tied round with a piece of string, and which evidently contained letters or documents of some kind; and this pocket-book Ponchard at once secured about his own person. He next produced a clasp-knife, the blade of which was of formidable length, pointed like a dagger, and so made as to keep open with a spring and thus serve all the purposes of a poniard at will. There was a small bunch of keys, and a purse containing two sovereigns and a few shil- lings. “The knife is now quite clean,” whispered Pe- tronoff, as Ponchard finished his search of the deceased's garments. “Good,” said the latter. ‘‘ Lay it on the table above. Now, here are these things—the keys, the knife, and the money. For my part I will have nothing to do with either of them :”’—for with a singular fastidiousness Ponchard recoiled from the idea of an act which might savour of plunder in respect to the murdered man; but on the other hand he said naught in reference to the pocket-book—for by another inconsistency, con- tradiction, or idiosyncracy in his nature, he did not conceive it to be anything like plundering at all to take possession of a lot of private papers. “As for the keys and the knife, and the purse likewise,” said Petronoff, “ give them to me and I will drop them over one ‘of the bridges as I return presently to my lodgings. But as for the money, we may as well leave that in the dead man’s pockets, to become the booty of the fellow—what’s his name ?” ‘‘ Grills,” replied Ponchard. ‘‘ Well, your sug- gestion is a good one, and shall be followed out.” Petronoff aecordingly took possession of the knife, the keys, and the empty purse, while Pon- chard placed the coin in the waistcoat-pocket of the deceased Ivan Zadouski. The next proceed- ing was to thrust the corpse into the sack—which was quickly done; and then the mouth of the sack was securely fastened by the string that Pon- chard had brought for the purpose. “Now,” said this individual, “ for the most THE YOUNG DUCHESS: OR, MEMOIRS OF A LADY OF QUALITY. 285 difficult part of the entire enterprise! It must be close upon one o’clock—but we shall hear it strike by the church in the Waterloo Road.” He now proceeded to unfasten the door of com- munication with the front kitchen ; and entering that place, he soon satisfied himself that the outer door—that is to say, the one more directly com- municating with the house—had been locked by Dame Morphew according to promise. There was a cupboard, or rather a closet, in one corner, ap- parently intended to contain coal, firewood, or kitchen utensils ; and indeed there were now some of these articles there. But at a height of about four feet, a part of the wall began to slant out- ward; and overhead there was a large iron trap, which was secured by a hook and a chain below, and which could be also raised from beneath. This was the communication with the narrow alley before alluded to ; and persons passing along that alley would naturally fancy that the iron trap was merely a place where coals might be shot down into the cellar of the house. Ponchard took the management of the whole proceeding,—Petronoff silently obeying his in- structions in all things. The sack containing the corpse was so placed in the closet that it might be raised up the trap-door at 2 moment's warn- ing; and Petronoff remained with it, while Pon- chard cautiously lifting the iron trap, passed himself through the aperture. All was still—a profound darkness prevailed in the alley: but when Ponchard, gliding down to the opening of it, peeped forth into the street, the starlight showed him that the coast was entirely clear. There were sounds of uproarious revelry in two or three neighbouring houses; but there was not a human being at the moment to be discerned in the street itself. In less than a minute Ponchard’s ear caught the sounds of a vehicle; and he be- held a cab turning into the street at the further extremity. At that moment the clock of the church in the Waterloo Road proclaimed with its iron tongue the hour of one. Ponchard disappeared in the darkness of the alley: the iron trap was again raised—the sack containing the corpse was drawn through the aperture, the Frenchman pulling it from above, the Pole pushing it from below. The cab stopped at the entrance of the alley: down leapt Grills and opened the door—at the same instant two forms emerged from the dark entry—a heavy ob- ject was thrown into the vehicle—Grills sprang up to the box—Ponchard closed the door—and away went the. cab. So rapidly was this portion of the exploit performed, that the halt of the cab scarcely extended to a minute; so that any per- son observing it from a distance, might have fan- cied that it had just stopped to take up a fare according to previous order. The knife with which the murder was com- mitted, had been laid upon the table in the back room; and the trap in the floor thereof had been closed by the foreigners over their heads before they had passed from the cellar into the kitchen. They had also extinguished the light just before they thrust the corpse through the iron trap; and having lowered this trap, they had nothing more to do at the house when once their burden was consigned to the cab and this had driven away. They therefore at once separated, — Ponchard oO nn omicbook Colin