The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 59: what you’re looking at

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

serene A ND 44 dreadful place ? My enemies pay you well, no doubt, to keep me here—bat I will pay you better if you will let me go. Iam not altogether friendless—! can give you a letter to a gentleman who will psy you a thousand pounds as the price of my free- don——” “Come now—none of that nonsense with me f” interrupted the man, savagely: “I am not to be beibed. The only way in which you can obtain your liberty, is to sign the paper.” “Then I will noé¢ sign it!” ejaculated the baronet, with feverish energy. “ Just as you please, sir,” remarked the fellow : “you will sing a different song before many days are over. Now, Mr. Page—are you awake yet “ A straw bed is not very provocative of slumber,” x gponded the commercial traveller, mournfally. “ But what do you require of me” “ If you want to write a noteto Hodson and Mor- bey to ask them to ransom you, it may as well be done at once as to-morrow or next day. Five hun- dred guineas, you know—that is the price,” ex- claimed the man, with a renewal of his coarse and bratal chuckle. “Five hunted pounds! they'll never pay it,” said Fage, in a voice of despair. “You can but try them,” returned theman. “Or perhaps you have some other friend———” “Not one who will advance such asum. How- ever,” continued the commercial traveller, “ I cannot linger here all my life—that is very certain; and therefore I must make an effort. Hodson has got me into this scrape—and he ought to help me out of it. “Ah! then old Hodson was at the bottom of the plant ?” exclaimed the fellow. “ Well—since I have admitted it, there’s no use at- tempting to deny it,” returned Page. “ But give me pen, ink, and paper, and a light, and 1 wilt soon pen a note to Hodson. It candono harm, at all eventa” “You can’t write here—there’s no table,” said the man. “Come along with me for a few minutes— I'll bring you safe back again to the baronet, depend ment; but his looks encountered naught save the dirty walls of the buildings in the rear of the house ; P*fumilisr church-tower nor a well-knewn ateep “ You've no more notion where you are, old fellow, than if you’d been dropped out of the clouds,” ob- served the man, who understood what was passing in the mind of Page; and the remark instantly at- tracted the looks of the commercial traveller to- wards the speaker, who was a great, stout, strong- enormous wen upon the crown of his bald bead. “{ must confess that I am entirely at fault,” aaid Page, in answer to the man’s obeervation. “ And I don’t mean to enlighten you,” was the gruff rejoinder. “ Now, then—there’s writing mate- rials—and you'll please to ‘pat dowm on paper jrst what I’m going to tell Page seated himself at the table, and intimated his between the sentences, dictated the ensuing letter :—~ “Dsan Cu, “1 have unfortunately fallen into a trap, and am im the custody of those whom I meant to ensnare. The tables were completely turned against me; and I amin a horrible dungeon, situated I have not the slightest ides where. The men who have thus made me their prisoner, mean to hold me fast until five hundred pounds are paid for my ransom. I write this to the dictation of one of them. What I therefore beg of you to do, is to enclose that sum, which must all be ig gold, in a bag—iabel it with a paper bearing the initials J. H. P.—and leave it at the bar of the Beggar's Staff, Horslydown. Within ax hours after this is done, I shall have the honour of wait- irkk upon you in Wood Street, to thank you in person for your kindness. Do not flatter yourself that Grumisy or any one else will be able to find out where I am, and ex- tricate me: nothing but your compliance with the above request will acoomplish that object. “ Yours very obedienfly, “ Mr. ITodeon, “J.K PAGE. “Wood Stree.” “ That will do!" exclaimed the man, reading ove the shoulder of the commercial traveller the letter which he himself had dictated—a process that he considered necessary in order to acquire the certainty that nothing more nor lees than he had suggested was contained in the document. “I think that wil induce the old merchant to come down handsomely , and, as there’s honour amongst thieves,” he added, with his disagreeable chuckle, “you shan't be kept in durance a minute longer than the time necessary to receive from the Beggars’ Staff a message stating that the coin has been left there.” “T hope that the letter will prove effective,” said Page, heaving a profound sigh as he rose from his seat. At the same instant his eyes encountered a long, thick, and well-rusted file that lay upon a chest of drawers within reach of his hand; and it flashed to his mind that many a desperate escape from even a stronger prisonage than the cellar down stairs, had been accomplished by means of a far more inefii- ecient implement than that old tool. “You don’t seem to be a bad sort of fellow in your way,” observed the man; “and I think that a drop of something short would perhaps do you good.” Thus speaking, he turned towards a cupboard in a corner of the room; and at the same moment Page secured the file about his person. The man produced a gin-bottle, and each partook of a dram. The commercial traveller was then directed to carry a couple of tin-pots full of cofibe down to the cellar, the gaoler following him with two large slices of bread; and in a few moments the two prisoners were once more together in the dun- geon, the door being again secured by bolte and chains. For some time the baronet and Page continued to make their meal in profound silence: but when the latter had drained the last drop of his coffee and eaten the last mouthful of crust, he said in a low whisper- ing tone, “ Do you think it would bo impossible to escape from this place t” Ae CORNICE OOO ‘SS CO