The Mysteries of London; or, Lights and Shadows of London Life — page 155: what you’re looking at

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

a _ . we ee a ‘ LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF LONDON LIFE. 149 as I have longed to tell the grateful persons you as- sisted who their benefactor was, the restriction of secrecy you imposed upon me has kept me silent, and I dared not intrude upon that confidence which you withheld from others.” “J am undeserving of these good opinions,” replied Berringtor, with a wave of the hand that suppressed the eulogies to which Oliver was about giving utter- ance; “and I disclaim all praise for what I have done. I must again, however, require you to keep unrevealed the particulars of my past history that I am now about to make known to you.” The faithful secretary reiterated his promise of sacredly inviolate the communication with whieh he might be entrusted, and Barrington pro- be work of charity, to which you have seen me so devote myself, was not, my worthy confidant, undertaken altogether in that pure spirit which you believe. I took upon myself this mission as an atonement for my own errors, as an expiation of that crime which I was daily committing, in order to obtain the means of reaching the point of my ambition, and happy was I when I succeeded in gain- ing that at which I aimed. Yes, Oliver, I, whose character you have hitherto deemed so spotless and unsullied, have been guilty of a crime of that magni- tude that would make society recoil from the daring adventurer by whom it was perpetrated.” * You—you guilty of a crime like this!” ejaculated Oliver incredulously, “ you who have been so actively engaged in the reformation of criminals—impossible !” “Yes,” affirmed Barrington, emphatically, “ you behold in me one who has forged notes upon ‘the Bank of England to the amount of seven hundred thousand pounds, and you have been, in many instances, yourself the agent by whom the forgeries were disseminated through different mercantile chan- nels.” : «“ Have I then been the unconscious utterer of forged notes, the accomplice in so vast a scheme of fraud, and knew it not?” exclaimed Oliver in alarm, and looking aghast at the baronet as he picturegathe liabilities of such a daring and extensive issue of counterfeit currency ; “ what will be the consequences when this is discovered, as it must be in the end?” * None that you need apprehend danger from,” added Barrington, with a smile of satisfaction that allayed the frightful forebodings the other had begun to entertain; “all is discovered, but at the same time all has been repaid.” “ Repaid!- This is a puzzle that I cannot com- ” “ Listen. Circumstances, which I have before hinted at as being the source of Jarvis’s inveterate enmity, obliged me seven years since to quit this country, beggared in prospects and ruined in reputa- tion. 1 was resolved to retrieve both, and to do sol was determined to devote my best energies to what then seemed a hopeless task. I had a twin brother at Madras, in the service of government, and to him, after being wrecked in the vessel in which I first embarked, and escaping as the sole survivor, I ven- tured to apply for assistance. I found him unhappily - at the point of death, his finances involved in great confusion, and utterly unable to relieve me, from his own resources having been exhausted. Whilst I was with him he died, and as his funeral was conducted in the greatest privacy, and the similarity between us was so remarkable as to attract general observa- tion, | was I reminded that, by practising a harmless o deception, I could return to England, and present myself in a manner that would excite no suspicion of my identity.” ‘‘And it was, then, under the assumption of your brother’s name that you first became my adviser and employer?” responded Oliver. “It was so—but I had heard of you before; and knowing that you had been intended for a better position than that to which idleness and evil com- panionship had degraded you, I sought to befriend you, Oliver, as I wished myself to have been befriended. But to return: my brother, who, from baving had a sum of money bequeathed to him, had changed his name to that of the testator, according to the terms of the bequest, had got knighted during his official service ; and his income having been lessened materially by the exertions he made to sustain his newly-acquired dignities, I found the only legacy I inherited was his wardrobe, together with a few letters and papers that I afterwards had occasion to use as proofs of my being the individual whose name and position I as- sumed, On my arrival in this country the want of funds so seriously militated against the designs I had formed, that I was obliged to consider the quickest and; most effective means of creating a fortune; and then it was that a hint thrown out Oy a skilful note- forger, who was a fellow voyager of mine, hastening to give another country the benefit of his skill, sug- gested the hazardous plan I afterwards pursued, I studied the art of counterfeiting notes by a new pro- cess; and disguising myself so completely that none could recognise me as the same, I day by dey forged, in one capacity, the notes I so easity got rid of in another. As rapidly as I produced my false coinage, I got it transmuted into genuine gold, and, as you know, embarked in every speculation that promised to yield a prompt and remunerative return, The re- sult of these investments far exceeded all the antici- pations I formed of them; and, like one who, trading on a borrowed capital, is at last enabled to pay back the principal, and retire upon the overplus he has acquired through those means, I was in a position finally to lay by an amount of real wealth equal to that which I had provided myself with as fictitious, and still retain a considerable surplus at my disposal, Yesterday I had an interview with the directors of the Bank of England, gave them back, in their own notes, all that I had deprived them of through mine, and then revealed to them the process by which they had been manufactured, and the almost imperceptible clue that would lead to their detection. The information thus communicated was considered to be so im- portant, that I gained what I had at frst stipulated for—an immunity from all proceedings that might be hereafter taken; and as the notes now in circulation are called in, the owners will be reimbursed from the fund I have left for the purpose; and I have in this way enriched myself, without ultimately injuring society.” “And the disguises successively assumed——” “‘ Were for the purpose of aiding my projects and enshrouding the unlawful manufacture of these notes in an impenetrable cloud of mystery,” added Bar- rington. “The same means I adopted for my con- cealment gave me the opportunity besides of finding out those who were deserving of assistance, and as a slight atonement for the fraud I was daily practising, I devoted half of its produce to the rescue of the unfortunate, and the reclaiming of those offenders whose crimes were more the result of a bad example than the consequences of a bad heart.” ——E LD OE OF ‘ 7, , ay ——- r , O_O a nitetien_aailaeeie eee eee CORNICLOO SS (EO) m