The Mysteries of London, Vol. IV — page 28: what you’re looking at

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28 was the best suited to Rainford’s desizns; and it was speedily furnished in a suitable manner, The neigh- bours believed that a retired East Indian merchant had taken the place; and therefore no surprise—no excitement was occasioned, when they perceived that the new tenant had his private carriage and numerous dependants. But how did Rainford manage to obtain the assistance of soveral faithful persons, who were blindly obedient to his will, and to one of whon— nanicd Wilton—he ontrusted his entire history? They were all poor and deserving persons whom I know well —men who had at different times been my patients, and in whom I felt an interest. Thus, in a very few days, the most complete arrangements were effected ; and just at the moment when Rainford was prepared to commence operations, and when he had succeeded in tracing the abode of Bonjamin Bones, chanco threw him in tho way of a certain John Jeffreys, whom he resolved to render subservient to his purposes in up- rooting the atrocious gang.” The physician then proceeded to relate the manner in which Rainford had drawn Jefireys into his service, —tho revelations made to him by that individual's un- folding all the dreadful schemes of vengeance con- templated by Old Death, and directed against the happiness of the Earl himself,—the projected exhuma- tion of the coffin in Saint Luke's church-yard, and the ferocions idea of blinding Lady Tatfield and Esther de Medina,——the mode in which these diabolical aims Were frnstrated by the arrest of ail tho members of Old Death’s gang,~—and tho faithful conduct of Jef- froys. Dr. Lascelles also narrated the proceedings of Rainford in the difficult affair of Mr. Torrens,—how, disguised as an old man, and admirably sustaining that character, he had entrapped Sir Christopher Blunt to the house in Red Liun Street to preside at tho exa- mination of the two prisoners,—and how he (Dr. Lascelles) had become a party to that transaction,— all of which particnlars are well known to tho reader. Finally, the physician made the Earl acquainted with the nature and the results of thesystem of reformation applied to all the members of the gang,—how it had succeeded in respect to Tidmarsh, the Bunces, Pedler and Splint,—and how Esther dc Medinn had deputed her unfortunate sister to visit Benjamin Bones on that fatal evening which was characterised by a savage murder! ” There was only one point connected with Rain- ford’s affairs, on which the Earl and the physician did not touch; and this was tho parentage of little Charley Watts. The doctor was unacquainted with the fact that Rainford had some years back forcibly violated tho person of Lady Hatfield, and that the issue of this rime was the boy who still bore the name by which we have just called him. Tho Earl of Ellingham naturally veiled the circumstance even from a friend so intimate and sincere as Lascelles; and though the doctor knew that Lady Hatfield had been a mother, he also kept this knowledgo to himself, and was very far from suspecting the true history of Charicy Watts. Lascelles, it will be remembered, had made the discovery relative to Georgiana on that occasion when he attended her in her severe illness, and when he gave her a soporific, as recorded in tho enrly part of this work: but he had never mentioned that discovery to a soul;—and the Enrl of Ellingham was as far from supposing that Lady Hatfield’s loss of chastity was known to the physician, as the phyecien was from entertaining even the remotest idea relative , £9 the parentage of the boy. 9 TIT 2YSTERIES OF LONDON. But Rainford was nirendy aware that this boy was his own son—the issue of the outrage which he had perpetrated upon Lady Hatficld! Yes~on the ove- ning before this interview between the Earl of Elling- ham and Dr, Lascelles, the former had so far intruded upon his brother's profound grief, 03 to make to him a revelation which a sense of duty forbade him to delay. Rainford also learnt, at the same time, that Georgiana was hersolf acquainted with the fact of he. child being in his care—placed under his protection as it were by the inscrutable decrees of Provilence! But for the sake of the honour of Lady Hatfield, and o sparing Rainford from the necessity of giving un- pleasant and degrading explanations io his friends, it had been determined between Lord Ellingham and himself that the boy should still continue to bear tho name of Watts, and that his real parentage should be unacknowledged—at lenst for tho present. In order not to dwell with tedious minutencss upon this portion of our narrative, wo shall briefly state that the funeral of Tamar took place on the day appointed; and if the tenrs of heart-felt gricf streaming from the eyes of trne mourners can avail for the sonls of the departed, then the spirit of the murdered Jewess must have received ample solace and full propitiation in those regions to which it had taken wing! But how deep a gloor: had fallen upon the family of Medina;—and how poignant was the anguish which the bereaved father and sister experienced for the departed! Nor less acute was the sorrow of the husband who survived that fair but prematurely crushed flower of ba —for immense was thy Jove for her, Tom ain CHAPTER CXVITI. THL INSOLVENT DEBTORS’ COURT. Passine through Portugal Street, Lincoln’s Inn Yields, you may perceive a low, dingy-looking build- ing, protected by a row of tall iron railings, and with steps lending to the front entrance. This strncture 1s of so dubious an aspect that it places tho stranger in a profound state of uncertainty as to whether it be the lobby of a criminal prison or a Methodist chapel; and the supposed stranger is not a little surprised when he learns, on inquiry, that this architectural mystery is neither more nor less then the Court for the Relief of Insolvent Debtors. “ At about. sine o’clock in the morning tho immediate: vicinity of the Court begins to wear a very business- like appearance: that is to say, both sides of the strect aro thronged with the most curious specimens of human nature which it is possible to encounter outside of Newgate or of the Bench, The wonder is whencs such a host of ill-looking fellows can have sprung, or whither they can be going, unless it is to either of tho two placcs just named. ‘Then comes tho natural question, “But who are they?” The answer is at hand: some are the turnkeys of the County Prisons and the tipstaves of the Bench, having in their charge prisoners about to bo heard at the Court,—others are the usual bangers-on and errand-seckers who are al- ways to bo found lurking about such places,—while a third act are the friends or else the opposing ereditors of the Insolvents. ‘The public-house oyposite the Conrt, and the one at the side are also filled with potsons of these descriptions; and before ten o'clock ELOOO© (C@) SS (C(O) =