The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 160: what you’re looking at

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

THE DUNGEON 129 the chinks in the door of a back room on the second story, induced him to pause there and listen again. The moans came from within; and Page unhesitatingly entered the chamber. Heavens! what a spectacle met his eyes! In a wretched bed, the blankets of which were of the most filthy description, lay an old man whose face was as pale as that of a corpse, and whose dim and glassy eyes, so haggard and sunken, were surrounded with that deep bluish tint which denotes the influence of a wasting disease and heralds the approach of death. His cheeks were hollow and thin; and a beard of several days’ growth enhanced the hideous- ness of his appearance. One emaciated arm supported the aching head; the other lay outside the coverlid, which the hand was clutching as if in the frenzy of despair. The chamber was not without furniture; but everything denoted neglect, and was characterized rather by a loath- some squalor than a downright penury. For there was food in a cupboard, the door of which stood open, and there was a bottle of spirits upon a shelf, and three or four shillings, together with some halfpence, lay upon the mantel. But everywhere dust and dirt had accumulated, — on the floor, where a scanty carpet lay all kicked up, on the blackened and grease-stained walls, on the dingy window-blind, on the chest of drawers, the table, the two or three chairs, and the bed itself. Such was the scene revealed to the eyes of the commercial traveller by means of a candle dimly burning and with a wick so long that it appeared as if it had not been snuffed for hours. A gleam of joy shot athwart the wan and ghastly countenance of the invalid as a human being thus burst upon his frightful loneliness; and Page’s immediate impulse was to pour water into a cup and hold it to the parched lips of the sufferer. But the man could not raise himself even a single inch to partake of the beverage, ardently longed for though it were; and the commercial traveller was forced to lift and sustain him while he poured the water down his throat. The cup was emptied, and as the invalid fell back on the sorry, sordid couch, his hollow eyes were raised with an expression of indescribable gratitude toward Page’s counte- nance. (C(O) il 0) Oy 0) (CO)