The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 103: what you’re looking at

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

é & 83 , ¢ chamber gleaming through the key-hole. The young girl, now no longer afraid, thereupon extinguished the candle; and, approaching the deor, she held her breath to listen. Almost immediately afterwards, some one came hurrying up the staircase; and Caroline knew by her step, hasty though it were, that it was Mrs. Lindley. The midwife passed by the young woman’s door, but stopped short at the next on the right hand; and Caroline heard her enter the adioining apartment. That was the chamber occupiea by the lady con- cerning whom the ufmost ion and secrecy were requisite,—the young lady of high birth, who never The wind had experienced some degree of abate- ment in its violence—and its gusts were less frequent than during the earlier part of the evening But still it gushed along the bosom os the Thames and swept at intervals over the house: and soon those sounds without were mingled with moans of female anguish within. Trembling from head to foot with new and undefined alarms, and experiencing a boundless sym- pathy for the young lady whom she supposed to be in the agonies of maternity, but whom to he: know- ledge she had never seen,— Caroline Walters began to (ee) her Spanish blood boiling with the excitement of an intense loathing in regard to that house of ter- nble mystery whither shame repaired to hide its head—where children weze born heaven only knew how to be disposed of—and where a vile woman throve upon the dark and sinister practice which, as she herself had boasted to Mrs. Brace, never left her chambers untenanted! For nearly half-an-hour did the m varied by occasional subdued screams, confpaus the next ! s remained ! death inflicted, perhaps—nay, most probably—with room ;—and all that time Miss and which at the same time would impel the poor to curse the existence that waa doomed to be dragged on in those cold and cheerless garrets where not even a mattress protected the shivering limbs from the hard floor ! For upwards of five minutes had Caroline Walters stood at the window, courting as it were the nipping chill of the wind to cool her brain which seemed to be on fire, and her blood which appeared to circulate like lightning in her veins; when, at the expiration of that brief interval, she heard a neighbouring win- dow gently and slowly open. Scarcely had this sound fallen upon her ear, when the conviction flashed to her mind that it was the casement of the adjacent room —the young lady's chamber—which was thus opening,—and while she was still listening with breathless attention, the faint, feeble, and half-stified cry of a new-born child was wafted to her through the air. In the next moment that cry was heard the least thing louder; and immediately afterwards it roee inte ‘a smail shrill shriek: then there was a plash in the waters beneath,—a sound distinct from the ripplings against the piles, and which seemed as if something had been thrown into the river;—and at the same instant the window of the next room was shut down ! If a scorpion had suddenly twined itself about the neck of Caroline Walters, a more horrible feeling could not have come over her than the sensation which now seized upon her bram—her heart—her entire being. For to her startled soul rushed the ap- palling conviction that a foul and atrocious murder had just been perpetrated,—the murder of a babe whose eyes had scarcely opened in this world ere they were closed again in the night of death,—and that still and motionless in her own chamber,—but with a ! the cognizance of the victim’s own mother! fearful excitement rapidly increasing upon her. ength, so heated grew her brain, that she felt she must either have fresh gir or be suffocated. The room seemed to have become a coffin: the atmos- ghere was to her senses as sultry as the tornd glow of the tropics. Nevertheless, it was—as the reader cemembers—in the depth of winter; and the blast was blowing without asif it had come laden with tke ice-chill of far-off Labrador Approaching the window, Caroline opened it as moiselessly as she could; and the cutting wind’s in- tensity of cald waa lost upon her. It seemed but a gentle breeze that fanned her feverish cheeks and orew back the hair from her countenance. Dark as pitch was the night without: black as a dunereal pall did that darkness seem to hang upon the river and against the house. Not a star peeped Sorth from above: not even an outline of the tem- pestuous clouds that were piled one upon another, could be seen;—for it was the very air itself that seemed to be a flood of jet but impalpable ink. The young girl could hear the rush of the river and its constant plashings against the piles below: bat there waa not a gleam upon its surface—not a mitigated shade to show that it was water running there. All was black—densely, profoundly black, like the in- terior of a vast cavern whither the light of day pene- trated not, and where no lamp illumed the acene. Yes: it was a night which crime would revel in for its own vile purposes,—a night from which conscience would shrink appalled, when remorse was prescnt,— night that would make the rich rejoice in the poe- feesion of their warm rooms and their downy beds, FE, At! Staggering away from the window, the young wo- man fell upon her knees by the side of her bed; and yielding to the deep agony of feelings so intensely wrung, she buried her face in her hands and endea- voured to pray. But her thoughts grew bewildered —her ideas became confused—and a frightful con- sternation seized upon her, Rising slowly, she me- chanicaily closed the window, and began to lay aside her clothing ;—and had the candle been still burning and she could have caught a glimpse of her features in the mirror, she would have shrunk back in dismay from the reflection of the ghastly pallor of her coun- tenance, the strange unnatural vacancy of her eyes, and the ashy whiteness of her quivering lips. But it was dark now within that chamber,—dark as the air without,—dark, too, as the deed which characterised this night of terror! Caroline Walters sought her couch—and sleep soon fell upon her eyes: for she was worn out and ex- hausted with the overwhelming fatigues which the body had sustained from the mind's incessant work- ings and convulsive agitations during the !ast hour. But though slumber thus sealed her heavy lids,—yet to her bosom there came no rest; for even in hee dreams was she pursued by the horrors that had appalled her soul ere she lay down to repose. Yes—and even in her visions, too, it seemed as il an oath of vengeance sprang from her very heart's core,—of vengeance against him who had seduced and betrayed her—and against that old demonees in fernale shape who had perpetrated the tremendous tragcdy of this foul night. yl SES a A ES AD GORMGOOOKXS co