The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 289: what you’re looking at

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

REVELATIONS OF THE MONSTER-MAN — 259 ‘‘ In the workhouse? ”’ exclaimed Meagles, more and more interested in the strange, wild, and scarcely credible narrative to which he was listening. ‘‘ Yes, in the workhouse — the pauper’s home,” returned Melmoth, bitterly. ‘“‘ But I was rejoiced to meet them anywhere, poor things, for their mother had been taken from them by the hand of Death. And then I learned that the babe was also dead, and that a surgeon had taken the in- fant’s corpse, doubtless to preserve it in his pharmacy, and I vowed in my soul that the barbarian should not go un- punished. I learned also that my poor wife had breathed her last on the steps of a great mansion at the West End; and I made another vow, to the effect that the inmates of the lordly dwelling should likewise be marked out as the objects of my future vengeance. To be brief, the very surgeon who took my dead child was one day brought by the parish doctor to see me at the workhouse; and the nature and number of my wounds led to the discovery that I was the monster whose deeds had so lately stricken the entire community with horror. I was removed to a mad cell and treated as a maniac of the most desperate class. But a revolt of my fellow lunatics led to my emancipation, and, accom- panied by my children, I quitted the workhouse in safety. Nearly six weeks have elapsed since then — ”’ ‘* And in the interval you have exercised a proper control over your feelings and your actions?” said Meagles, with an eagerness which showed how rejoiced he would be at receiving an affirmative response; for amidst all the hor- ror and loathing which he experienced for the unhappy wretch, there was blended a deep compassion, an immense, pity. ‘“ Since that period,” said Melmoth, after a long pause and in a solemn tone, while he fixed his eyes with a strange expression of dogged resolution and desperate decision upon Meagles, ‘‘ since that period I have certainly experienced no return of the horrible mania, the frightful hallucination, which urged me on to the fury of a ghoul and the atrocities of a vampire; but I still continue my warfare against the world. You observe that my appearance denotes not penury, and yet I labour not honestly to procure raiment, food, and lodging for myself and children. No, there is not a chance for honest industry in this country. I have consequently Com boo eS m