The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 63: what you’re looking at

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88 THE MYSTERIES. on his iniquitous business, and had only just re- turned. And Ramsey was laughing at the accounts he gave of his success; and they drank to each other’s health—for they had been dining together. I was rivetted to the spot: my ear was nailed to the wall ;— and now Ramsey began to tell his partner in fraud how he had been that afternoon to the Manor while he knew that I was in Aylesbury,—how he had seen Lady Stamford and revealed to her the ruin which had assailed the bank,—how he and Martin had taken good care of themselves,—and how they had hit upon a certain plan for disposing of me—her hus- band—to which she had finally consented, though with some hesitation. What this plan was, did not appear: but I heard enough to convince me that Martin had made all the arrangements when in Londen to carry it into execution. The wretches! did they intend to murder me? My blood boiled as if a lava-stream were circulating in my veina : but still I listened. Martin now spoke; and it appeared that he had succeeded in finding out in [London a certain Joseph Warren, nicknamed the Magsman, who had cheerfully undertaken for a heavy bribe the business which they had in hand regarding me / Ramsey asked Martin if he were sure that this Warren would be punctual—and the reply was in the affirmative, They then spoke of Warren in con- nexion with some former transaction relative to spurious coin; and Martin reminded Ramsey how well the man had behaved in that instance. I know not how it was that I restrained the indignation and the fury which were boiling within me as all this complication of atrocity was developed: but I sup- pose it was that I desired to remain and hear the two miscreants to the end. And perhaps I was the more completely rivetted to the spot inasmuch as I sought to glean the nattre of the dark and mysterious pro- ject that they had devised relative to myself. But presently the seducer of my wife—the villain Ramsey -—began to speak of her in such light, loose, and ribald terms that I felt maddened as if drops of molten lead were falling upon my brain ;—and when, no longer able to restrain myself, I was about to rush from the room and burst into the presence of the two men, & dizziness came over me and I sank senseless upon a chair.” Here the baronet paused again; and moanings of unutterable anguish escaped him. “ By heaven |” cried Page, “if I can only get out of this place, I will hunt those two scoundrels into Newgate before I have done with them! But pray proceed, Sir Richard—I am dying to hear the rest.” “And the remainder is terrible !* exclaimed the unfortunate baronet, with the emphasis of a poig- nant mental agony. “I told you how I sank down in a swoon,” he continued, endeavouring to master his emotions: “when I awoke from that senseless state, my watch informed me that nearly half-an- hour must have elapsed while I remained thus un- conscious of all that was passing. I listened again at the partition wall: but the voices had ceased— all wassilent. The villains had evidently retired. How was I to act? I was bewildered—stunned— stupified. Should I return home, and wreak my vengeance upon my wife? No—I could not harm her, guilty though she were; for her beautiful image floated with supplicating eyes before me! But I felt that to forgive her were impossible. And then those two miscreants—how was I to act towards them? Oh! it was easy to decide that point: I was a magistrate, and could myself issue warrant* for their apprehension. This I resolved to do in the morning—for I was too heart-sick, too much ex- hausted with mental anguish, and too deeply over- whelmed with ineffable woe, to take any deliberate step that night. It was twelve o’clock when I reached the Manor; and the servant who opened the door to admit me into the house, stated that Mr. Ramsey had been waiting for the last two hours to see me. An unnatural composure took posses- sion of me: I cannot account for it—but such was the fact ;—and I resolved to hear all that my vil- lanous partner might have to say before I pro- claimed how much I knew. I entered the dining- room, where my wife was seated on one side of the supper-table and Ramsey on the other, I threw myself upon a chair with no affected exhaustion, but areal weariness alike of mind and body; and Lady Stamford inquired what had detained me at Ayles- bury so long. I observed that there was a subdued anxiety and a tremulousness in her voice ; and when I endeavoured to speak, my tongue clave to the roof of my mouth. Ramsey remarked upon the loveli- ness of the night, which was of frosty clearness and moonlit; and he asked me to walk out with him into the shrubbery, as he wished to converse with meupon niatters of great im It flashed to my mind allin a moment that he sought to In- veigle me into some snare—perhaps to put inte execution the mysterious scheme against me at which he and Martin had so darkly hinted ;—and my blood, an instant before so sluggish, began to circulate like thrilling electricity in my veins Starting from my seat, I poured forth the most bitter invectives alike against Rameey and Lady Stamford. Did my life depend upon it, I could not now recapitulate aJi that I then said: but I recollect that in a few hasty and cutting words I revealed enough to convince the guilty pair that overything was discovered. With incredible rapidity I must have glanced at the scene at the jeweller’s—the dis- honoured cheque—the examination of the bank- books—and the conversation which I had over- heard at the inn. Ramsey sate stupified upon his self at my feet—confessing all and everything of which I accused her—and imploring my merey and my pardon. The scene was terrible: my eyes must have flashed fire—my features must have been convulsed with rage. Sensations of deep and burn- ing hatred filled my soul—and my brain was in a ferment. But still my wife knelt before me, with upturned eyes and clasped hands—and her pene- trating, agonising voice, rendered wild with de- spair, continued to beseech my forgiveness. Oh! even now that voice rings through my head,—and the sound will never cease to vibrate there—no, not when old age shall have made my ears impervious— if I live so long! Suddenly I spurned her from me -and she fell back: but inthe next moment she |’ started up with a wild and piercing cry, and seiaing a sharp fruit-knife that lay too ready at hand, plunged it with the energetic violence of despair into her own bosom. Both Ramsey and myself rushed forward atthe same instant to arrest the hand which wielded the fatal weapon that flashed across our eyes in the lamp-light; but we were too late—the wretched woman’s movement was as rapid as if under the influence of a sudden shock of gal- vanism—and the blow was dealt with the vivig LL LTS SE SS SS fsa uses gesasoussuanaaseste COMING BOOKS COnn