The Gift of the Sailor: The String of Pearls & Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street — page 392: what you’re looking at

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

stronger comrade, and begged him to take them to her whom I had loved, to tell herself my fate, and to bid her not weep for me, since I had died happy in the thought that I had achieved something for her; and so, my friend and I parted. I was preserved and got on board a merchant vessel bound for England, where I arrived absolutely penniless. But I had a heart full of hope and joy; for if I could but find my poor girl faithful to me. I felt that we might yet be happy, whether my comrade had lived to bring to her the pearls or not.” “And you found her?” “You shall hear, sir. I walked from Southampton to London, subsisting on the road as best I could. Sometimes I met with kind treatment at farm-houses, and sometimes with quite the reverse, until at length I reached London tolerably exhausted, as you may suppose, and in anything but a good plight.” “Well, but you found your girl all right, I suppose?” “No. I walked up the Strand; and as some of our happiest interviews had taken place in the Temple Gardens, I could not resist turning aside for a moment to look at the old familiar spot, when what do you think was the sight that met my eyes?” “T really can’t say.” “T will tell you, sir. I saw her whom I loved—the young and beautiful girl for whom I had gone through so much—he being upon whose faith and constancy I would at any time have staked my life—the, as I thought, most innocent, guileless creature upon the face of the earth——” “Well, well, my good friend, what did you see this paragon of perfection about?” “You will not believe it, sir.” “Oh, yes, I shall—do not be afraid of that—I shall believe it. Your narrative bears too much the stamp of truth about it for me to doubt it for a moment. I pray you to go on.” “T will then. The first object that met my eyes in that Temple Garden was the being whom I loved so fondly leaning upon the arm of a man in a military undress—leaning, did I say, upon his arm? she was almost upon his breast, and he was actually supporting her with one of his arms round her waist.” “Well?” “What, sir! Is that all you can say to it? Would you say ‘Well?’ if you saw the only creature you ever loved in such a situation, sir? ‘Well,’ indeed!” “My dear friend, do not get excited, now.” “Oh, sir, it would excite a stick or a stone.” “Excuse me, then, for having said ‘Well,’ and go on with your story. What did she say to excuse herself to you?” “Tis well, sir—of course, I cannot expect others to feel as I do upon such an occasion. I did not speak to her, sir. The sight of such perfidy was enough for me. From that moment she fell from the height I had raised her to in my imagination, and nothing she could say, and nothing I could say, would raise her up again.” “And you, then, only walked away?” “That is all. With such a pang at my heart at the moment as I wonder did not kill me, I walked away, and left her to her own conclusions.” “Then—then, my young friend, you did the very reverse of what I should have done, for you should have gone up to her, and politely taken leave of her, so as to let her know at all events that you were aware of her perfidy. I should not have been content to let her have the satisfaction of thinking I was at the bottom of the sea while she was enjoying a flirtation with her officer; but, of course, different people take different courses upon emergencies. There is one thing, however, that I wonder you did not inquire about.” “What was that?” “Your String of Pearls. How could you tell but that your friend had got to London, and had actually given her the Pearls with your message appended to them? I really am surprised that you did not step forward and say, ‘Oblige me, miss, with my pearls, if you no longer favour me with your affections!’” “No, no. To tell the truth, I was too heart-broken at the time to care about anything in all the world; I had lost her who was to me the greatest jewel it had ever contained, and I cared for nothing else. I do believe I was a little mad, for I walked about the rest of that day, not knowing where I went to, and at last I found myself, tired, worn out, famishing, opposite to Mrs. Lovett’s shop-window, and the steam of those abominable pies began to tempt me, so much that I went into the shop, and after some talk, I actually accepted the situation of cook to her, and there, but for you, I should have breathed my last.” “Not a doubt of it. And now, my young friend, you know that I am a Police-magistrate, and I dare say you have heard a great deal about my sources of information, and the odd way in which I find out things when folks think they keep them a profound secret. You have told me all your history, but you have thought proper, as you were, if you pleased, quite justified in doing, to withhold your name.” “T have done so, but I hardly know why. I will tell it to you, however, now.” “Hold, I know it.” “You know it, sir?” “Yes, your name is Mark Ingestrie!” “Tt is, indeed. But how you came to know that, sir, is to me most mysterious.” “Oh, I know more than that. The name of the young lady who, you believe, played you such a trick, is Johanna Oakley.” Mark Ingestrie, for it was indeed no other, sprang to his feet, exclaiming— CORniclooo S CO)