The String of Pearls; or, The Barber of Fleet Street — page 162: what you’re looking at

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

aX . 154 ‘THE STRING OF PEARLS. . | ‘*Surely,”” he thought, ‘‘ EF shall be able to make a substitute for a pen, and i} as for ink, a little coal and water, or—ah, I have it, black from my lights, of ! 1} course. Haha! How difficulties vanish when a man kas thoroughly made up ) a | a ea em : if | i| of my prison-house,” ean there be than the enclosing a note in one of Mrs, ; a || Loyett’s pies ?”’ ; ea i! After reviewing all the pros and cons of this scheme, there only appeared a j aa || few little difficulties in the way, but, although they were rather serious, they were Bea | || not insurmountable. In the first place, it was possible enough that the unfortu- Ba |] nate pie in which the note might be enclosed might be eaten in the shop, in Pir. |! which event the note might go down the throat of some hungry lawyer’s clerk, | i a ae |] and it might be handed to Mrs. Lovett, with a ‘‘ God bless me, ma’am, what’s i i ) | this in the pie?” and then Mrs. Lovett might, by a not very remote possibility, i a || say to herself—* This cook is a scheming, long-headed sort of a cook, and not- Wil || withstanding he does his duty by the pies, he shall be sent upon an errand to p 1} another and a better world,” and in that case the delectable scheme of the note al: 1] could only end in the total destruction of the unfortunate who conceived it. | Hae || Objection the second was, that, although nothing is so easy as to say—“ Oh, aa || write a note all about it,” nothing is so difficult as to write a note about any- ie || ching without paper, ink, and a pen. The cook rubbed his forehead, and cried— ) ; H} 6 Damen it 1” || This seemed to have the desired effect, for he at ence recollected that he was | || supplied with a thin piece of paper for the purpose of laying over the pies if the | WE | || oven should by chance be over heated, and so subject them to an over-browning iy {| process. 3 4a i gl 1| his mind to overcome them. Ha—ha! I write a note—I postitin a pie—some || lawyer sends his clerk for a pie, and he gets that pie. He opens it and sees the 11 note—he reads it—he flies to a police-office, and gets a private interview || with a magistrate—a couple of Bow-street runners walk down to Bell Yard, i] and seize Mrs. Lovett—I hear a row in the shop, and cry—‘ Here [ am—I am | | | here—make haste--here I am—here lam!’ Ha—ha-—ha—ha—ha—ha !” | | ‘Are you mad ?”’ The cook started to his feet— ‘ Who spoke—who spoke ?” a i} 6“ 1,’ said Mrs, Lovett, looking through the ingenious little wicket at the iop | th |} of the door. “ What do you mean by that laughing? Ifyou have gone mad, _ |i 1] as one cook once did, death will be a relief to you. Only convinee me of that cal /{ fact, and in two hours you sleep the long sleep.” ae | T beg your pardon, ma’am, I am not at all mad.” - ni “Then why did you laugh in such a way that it reached even my ears above ?” th “Why, ma’am, are you not a widow ?” os be if ‘* Well then, you could not have possibly looked at me as you ought to have | » | om ;| done, or you would have séen that I am anything but a.bad looking fellow, and |} 4) as I am decidedly single, what do you say to taking me for better or for worse? ar et a ;} The pie business is a thriving one, and, of course, if I had an interest in it, I |} | a 4| should say nothing of affairs down below here.” fis | ui ea ne i} “Fool !? | ;; “Thank you, madam, for the compliment, but I assure you, the idea of such a an arrangement made me laugh, and at all events, provided I do my duty, you bal don’t mind my laughing a little at it?” | Mrs. Lovett disdained any further conversation with the cook, and closed the little wicket. When she was gone he took himself seriously to task for being so ne foolish as to utter his thoughts aloud, but yet he did not think he had gone so far as to speak loud enough about the plan of putting the letter in a pie for her : to hear that. “Qh, no—no, I am safe enough. It was the laughing that made her come. Mm 411 am safe as yet!” | ~ HBG) BP i rn nt ee, ase Ret 2's OSes rer comicbooks.com