The Mysteries of London; or, Lights and Shadows of London Life — page 55: what you’re looking at

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

Mary now turned, and with a beating heart, as she foun herself nearing her destination, she sped down he declivity at a more rapid rate, ly noticing such landmarks on her way as convinced her she was following the right path. The lane ended by a lone farm-house, the inmates of which were all asleep; and the sonorous bark of the watchful house-dog, as he shook himself out of the straw, and came shambling out from the kennel to gaze upon her with a mistrustful air of suspicion, alone ell upon her ear, as she hurried by. There was an e swinging loosely upon its hinges, which she Beep ans then came upon » Siasp yak cenng marshes, where the | grass came y beaded Ao od ed ‘with the heavy crystal dew. liyened only by a few sleepy flocks of sheep and sroups that were cropping the short sweet neighbouring meadows. Towards er-side — the breeze from which was now naking itself felt as it swept over her face, warmed and glowing with the brisk exercise she had Su e land was one flat and swampy expanse of green, oa by the appearance of a single object to ome time traversed in this direction the tortuous »otpath—if so slight an indication of a track deserved the name—Mary saw, at the distance of about half a le, the out-building rise up before her, which she htly surmised was the old barn to which Hawkins referred; and now, anxiously looking round to at no person was approaching towards the same hurried onward with as rapid a movement yielding nature of the sward allowed. ing the last half hour, the lingering vestige of thick murky mist of the preceding night had away, and the sun had risen in all the glorious } of asummer morning. The buzzing sound insect melody was again awakened into life; the of the kine afar off mingled pleasantly with the distant sheep-bell, and the sky, ith those matchless tints that usher in a ing, appeared to reflect in its emblazoned ds the jewelled treasures which had pgulphed in the ocean from which it seemed, and radiant, to emerge. A throb of grateful rose within her heart, and Mary felt that this scene which the red hand of a murderer trate with a deed of blood. eared the precincts of the barn, a new terror upon he mind. Had she, after all, arrived too ad the crime been consummated? A ess prevailed around, and she listened | the threshold of the hovel for some indica- ng being within, Tortured by the dread with all her haste, her father had spot before her, she hesitated to speak, lest find her worst surmises confirmed. A as of some one breathing with difficulty, her to the task, and raising her voice as much faltering breath would enable her, she ex- : “Speak, sir, quick; your life or death de- pends upon your answer. Are you here within these walls against your will?” “ Oh, hasten to free me from this vile imprison- ” returned a voice from the interior. “I have exhausted myself with shouting for assistance during long days and nights, and I am hoarse with my “ Yes, distinctly,” replied Mary, now satisfied that ber errand of merey had not been undertaken in vain, rE z eve i i the tinkle of streaked with June efi i e268 : ; EE r ee 2 F ~ ~ che - a i an reak the monotony that prevailed. After having for | purpose. _ ~=- mm a ee ae ee LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF LONDON LIFE. 47 and that she had correctly understood the place men- tioned by the miser. “ Your life is in imminent dan- ger. Within a brief time from this a man named Hawkins, accompanied by another of a fierce disposi- tion and powerful strength, will de here to intimidate, if not murder you. Lose not an instant in effecting your escape.” “a !”? continued the prisoner, “my hands are bound, and I am helpless; and if you are a woman, as I judge from the tones of your voice as they reach me here, there is not much ehance of making a successful resistance. But hasten, I beg of you, to the nearest dwelling, and procure me a knife by which I can sever these cords that have been twisted round my wrists, and which my teeth Rave in vain tried to bite asunder.” “ There is not a house within a mile from here,” cried Mary, “and the delay would be fatal to you. But even if your hands are free, [ find there is a chain and padlock on the door, that would be still beyond your power or mine to break away.” ‘With my hands at liberty I might reach the window above,” exclaimed the other, eagerly; “if you have no knife, a sharp flint might answer the 3? Mary thought of the implements that she had ab- stracted from her father’s room to procure her own liberation, and then remembered that the chisel with which she had so fruitlessly essayed to burst open the lock was atill in her possession, placed in her bosom during the hurry of her flight, Producing this, and thrusting it beneath the crevice of the door, she had the satisfaction of finding that its aid had proved most serviceable, for a few minutes afterwards she heard a sudden jerk, followed by an ejaculation of delight, and an intimation from within announced to her that the rope had been rent in twain. The padlock on the door, however, seemed to pre- sent an insuperable obstacle to his release, and she was lamenting the hazard of further delay in forcing this, when she saw, to her ineffable gratification, a handsome, manly figure emerging from the window of the barn above, and before she could express her congratulations on his escape, he had clambered to the side, leaped gracefully tothe earth, and was pouring forth his thanks to her in eloquent language, for so effectually coming to his timely assistance. Driving the chisel into the wall, he had gained a footing, which had enabled him to reach a cross-beam above, and with the agility of a seaman he had soon con- trivyed to gain the sloping skylight in the roof. It was with emotions of a new and indefinable nature that she now saw before her, for the first time, the youthful and engaging form of Alfred Howard. Though the treatment he had experienced had some- what marred the effect of his fine open countenance— for the force of the blow given him on his capture had still left in a broad black mark across the forehead, proofs of the severity of the contusion—it had not destroyed the indications of his disposition, Mary would have felt pleased at being the means of saving one far less prepossessing, but it was with a blushing rapture that she now saw a handsome stranger take her hand warmly within his own, and hail her as his deliverer, Alfred was, likewise, not unsusceptible of the sur- prise that awaited him. He bad pictured to himself the friendly interposition of some well-meaning milk- maid that chance had brought that morning to his assistance, and was quite unprepared to find that the girl who had rendered him such an essential service EORNICLOOOKS