The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 325: what you’re looking at

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

810 tionary, pointing with his staff in the direction in- dicated by his words. Away sped the orphan into the establishment; and addressing herself to one of the numerous clerks whom she saw in the room that she thus entered, she put a few inquiries in a rapid and almost incoherent manner—for she was convulsed with an inward grief to which she dared not give vent, but which it cost her the most painful efforts to control’ By the in- dividual whom she thus accosted, Camilla was re- ferred to another clerk; and from the lips of this latter official she learned that certain stock standing in a certain name had been sold out within the last half-hour. The book was shown her—her name, as { it appeared in the Bank certificate, had been signed by the female who personated her—and that female could have been none other than the treacherous woman who had treated her with such a show of 1 hospitality and friendship. For a few moments a palsy of the heart and brain seized upon the wretched girl—and a mortal shiver- ing assailed her. Her limbs gave way beneath her— | and she clung to the counter for support. “A forgery has been committed, then?” said the { clerk; and the words, which he repeated for the third time, fell upon her ears and recalled her to her senses, “ A forgery—yes—and I am ruined!” she gasped painfully : then, as a sudden idea struck her, she fled precipitately from the room. But the clerk hurried after her—and, overtaking the wretched girl as she was speeding through the court- yard, he said, “I beg your pardon, Miss—but so ‘| serious an affair must be looked into immediately.” “Tam going somewhere for that purpote,” replied the orphan, in a rapid and excited tone. “You will return, then—you will assist the officers of justice, if necessary, in adopting the proper pro- 4 ceedings 7 = “Yes—yes—I will return,” exclaimed Camilla, the dread of seeing a last hope destroyed now ren- dering her even angrily impatient and petulant. And, breaking abruptty away from the clerk, she sped forth from the Banx of England. A hackney-coach was passing at the time: she stopped it—entered the vehicle—and ordered the driver to take her to Westminster and set her down ‘| in the immediate vicinity of the Abbey. The ride, instead ot serving as an interval for her to regain her composure, only tended to »ncrease the ') excitement under which she lavoured. For her im- patience became agonizing: she longed to repair to the house where she had slept, in the hope of en- countering the woman, and either by threats or éen- treaties inducing her to surrender a part, if not the whole, of the amount which she had received at the Bank. But the coach was drawn by two miserable hacks which crept along at a snail’s pace; and, to add to her vexation, Chedpside was thronged with vehicles. Thas was her progress impeded—and all the while her own ideas travelled with the speed of lightning. For she fancied that the man and woman who, under the guise of friendship, had so scandal- ously plundered her, would have time to return to their abode, pack up their things, and decamp-ere ahe could possibly reach the place. Her impatience therefore grew maddening: and on reaching the Abbey she was in such a state of exhaustion, through the intense workings of her feelings, that she could not immediately alight from the vehiole. eee. THE MYSTERIES. Three times did the coachman inform her, as be stood holding the door wide open, that ebe had reached her destination, -— three times before she could rightly understand him. Then—suddenly te- animated with courage, strength, and energy—she sprang forth and was darting away, when the driver deinanded his fare. Her reply was that she should return in a few moments: bat her wild wnd excited manner rendered him suspicious—and he insieted upon being paid at once. Thoagh burning with anxiety to rush onward, Camilla was compelled te yield; and the liquidation of the coachmen's chim exhausted the contents of her purse. She was now penniless ! But not pausing to reflect upon this circumstance, nor even heeding the driver’s question whether he was to wait for her, the aimost tneddened gil plunged into that maze of streets iu which she knew the house where she had slept was situate. To find this dwelling was not however so easy a task os she had at first anticipated. For the streets m low, vb- scure and Vile neighbourhoods are so‘much allke— and squalor, vice, and misery assimilate all things whicn come within their fatal scope. Thus, having chased franticly up and down in that labyrinth of poor habitations, Camilla was compvilea to relax her pace; and it was when, completely exhausted, she was dragging nerself painfully along, scrutinizing every door and every house-front, that she lighted oa the abode which she sought. A gleam of joy ftashed through the black aad cheerless void into which the wretchedness of & fev hours had changed her hedrt; and ebe knocked hastily at the door. The summons was obeyed by a hideous-lodking man on whose bald head an excrescenoce or wen pro- truded with a disgusting effect, and‘on every line- ment of whose countenance crime was indelibly. “ Are the people of the house at home?” inquired Camilla timidly—for her heart again sank cou pletely within her at the appearance of eo repalare an individual. “Who dy’e mean?” demanded the fellow, with-s tone and manner that were not only brutal but even menacing. “I mean the man and his wife who gave mes lodging here Jast night,” responded the young git!: “J do not know their names——”’ “ Lord bless ye!” ejaculated the repulsive ind- vidual: “ you'll uever hear of them no rece. They’re gone for good, young Miss, I can wil you.” And with these words, which seunded the-knell of the orphan’s last hope, the felow banged the decor violently in her face. She tumed away—that poor friendless girl—es if she had just heard her death-sentence . Her countenance was #0 ghastly pale it eeemed as if the blood could almost be perceived in the bive veins: ber tongae clave to the roof of ber mouth— ner threat was as dry as if she had swallowed ashes Great God! whet was to become of ner !—whither was she to go?—where seek an asylum? Not af Mrs. Brace's fashionable establishineat whieh vices of the aristocratic and the profligacy of great and titled had convertea into a juxuneus brothel discreetly conducted, — oh! no—not St worlds would she return thither! Death—death— aye, even death by starvation—death ia the opes eee eel COMNGBOOKS