The Mysteries of London; or, Lights and Shadows of London Life — page 10: what you’re looking at

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

Sr rrr ee 2 _ THE MYSTERIES OF LONDON. Se alt a oat a “pothing left to be delineated, thought itself, are winged to their destination ere the nothing farther to be known. e have been hitherto | breath has scarcely gone that uttered them. All that as one who, threading the of awast labyrinth, brings joy or sorrow, profit or loss, happiness OF | has still left unpenetrated the mysterious centre of the | misery, finds here a rapid and ready medium of trans- maze—that wondrous arcanum wherein are enshrined mission—ever eloquent with its unseen agency, the most startling secrets of society. annihilating time -and space with its co-etaneous If the intricacy of the path, and the sinuous wind- | revelations. we were necessitated to pursue, have occasionall; Thus, in the eventful night on which our story | led to our divergence from the direct line, the ing | opens, & telegraphic message was being transmitted avenues opening to us on our way, and reveaHng through that secret and silent channel, which, had it scenes of contrasted light and shade, wealth and | been known to the railway travellers that it out- wretchedness, vice and virtue, were necessary to be | stripped in its wondrous flight, would have paled the first portrayed in order to prepare the reader for the | cheek and quailed the heart of many. So deeply, more occult revelations that are to follow. however, We are now upon the threshold of the mystery who sent itself. rant of its signification. It consisted of a series of letters and numbers that manifestly could be only deciphered by those who had the clue; and these pri- vate signals were thus combined : «G.8, A. M. 2. 5, R, B, W. 9, D. “ Liverpool to London.” There were consequently eleven distinct items, nume~ rical and alphabetical, in this combination, each of which had a corresponding and definite meaning. The startling intelligence thus conveyed the pro- gress of our narrative will reveal. —— nl CHAPTER 1. THE MESSAGE OF THE LIGHTNING. A quick stab—a sudden thrust—the sharp trampling down of green branches over the dark pit dug in the forest glade, and the rad light of the sunset of a summer eve falls upon the shrinking arm of a mur derer. No eye but that ever watchful One that fills the broad blue canopy of heaven has been a witness to the deed—the victim lies deep amid the tangled fern and brushwood of the lonely copse; no pathway | traverses that ora wee the chance is but slight that a straggling footetep will ever press the ground ies, and the murderer, throw- ling boughs athwart the blood-stained spot, laughs to scorn the inward whis- pering of conscience, that the body may yet be found, and retribution follow, A:mile more in the moon- light, and he is far aw from the scene of his crime. The words “Good alg ti” fall thick and harshly from his parched lips as he exchanges salutations with who is driving homeward to the i 7 : ; Railway an unusually large concourse of persons | awaiting the arrival of the up-train from the nortb. Rumours of an accident on the oe been general throughout the afternoon ; and from the train not having arrived at the usual time, the anxiety of those who were expecting their friends by this conveyance had grown to an alarming apprehension for their E ¢ E eS z . ; : | stretches its metallic arms far away through the | disseminated 3 gioom, linking the metropolis in its iron grasp. The | closely against the barrier, a young git!, plainly attired, approaching train ig to him the hoped-for ark of | and displaying in her features the interest with which salety; another moment, and he is borne, with the | she had heard the observations of the bystanders, of the wind, leagues away from the decaying } withdrew a short distance from the throng, aud took human form, now cold and clammy in the night-dew, | her station nearer the arch, where she could avoid the that he struck down in the evil hour of avarice and | rude contact of the multitude, and yet obtain an early ion. Bat the avenging instrument of Heaven's intimation of the arrival. vengeance and man’s triumph has been at work.| A shawlof simple pattern, araw® tightly around her Whilst he hugged himself in the belief of future | figure, revealed a symmetry of form that at once safety, the lightuing-tongued messenger of the wires | attracted the attention; and as the lamp above re- bas blazoned the infamy of the criminal a hundred | flected its light upen her face, there was perceived a miles away; and even then, whilst he is wavering 0D | pensive beauty in her countenance, which the shade of the bestowal of his ill-got gain, the officers of justice | sadness with which it was mingled contributed rather | gre waiting to receive him. ‘The electric spark has ispel. | Yiedled a beacon om his track that lights him to i ali appa destraction. ‘At the rattle of the wires in the wind the note-forger, flying from the consequences of his guilt, shrinks at the reflection, that in those trembling links of subtle power the tidings of his fate may be already borne; and, with discord in his ear, the vibration sounds like the jingle of the handcuff. The fugitive from home, who, with trusting hopes and fluttering heart, has yielded to the fond persuasion of her secret lover, sees, with a timid, tearful glance, those threat- tell-tales of ber half-repented error. Thoughts | she had thrown a portion of her own scan that become words, and then travel with the speed of | round the child, in order to protect him } ee ————— LL —_———— tne = -_ - ’ : 2 * » She was evidently too young to be his mother, and the dissimilarity that was apparent even on & ASS) glance would have remove avy lingering supposition of that kind; but the affection with whi 2 ee GOmicbooks.com 4