The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 311: what you’re looking at

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

NELL GIBSON 289 till the blood came, so desperate for a moment was his vexation at the disgust with which the young woman re- garded him. ‘“ But come, it’s no use for you and me to wrangle while there’s business to be done; so I suppose we are all good friends again? ”’ ‘To be sure,’”’ answered Nell, instantaneously recovering her good humour; ‘so long as you don’t talk to me in a particular way, we shall be the best friends in the world, as we always have been hitherto; and if there’s anything to be done in which my services can be made handy, you know very well that you can command me.” ‘‘T am glad to hear you speak in this sensible way,”’ said Coffin, laying aside all his recent resentment, ‘‘ because there really is something important.on hand. You recollect that night, down at the dark crib, when you enticed a young lady there — ”’ ‘To be sure; and she had plenty of trinkets and a well- filled purse,’’ exclaimed Nell, “ out of all which we were shamefully bilked. But what of her? ”’ ‘“ Oh, nothing about her; but you remember that rascally knife-grinding fellow that undertook to send her into kingdom-come? ” . ‘“‘ As if it was possible to forget that man whom we sent to sleep at the bottom of the black ditch,” said the young woman, her tone and her looks both suddenly becoming serious. “ Yes, but what will you think,” exclaimed the Hang- man, ‘‘ when I tell you that the fellow does not sleep at the bottom of the black ditch at all, but, on the contrary, must have been awoke into consciousness and life when plunged into that slimy pool? And what else will you think when I tell you that not only is that knife-grinder safe and sound in the land of the living, but that he is none other than our mortal enemy Larry Sampson? ”’ With a surprise that rapidly increased into a speechless wonderment did Nell Gibson hear the announcements thus made by Daniel Coffin; and even before she could so far recover from this stupefaction as to be able to give utterance to a word, did the Hangman proceed to recite the same account as he had already given to Bencull concerning his visit to Larry Sampson’s house and the discoveries he had made through the agency of the great book. We need hardly (COMNICLOOO (CO) am