Penny Blood Serial Fiction — page 286: what you’re looking at

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

THE FEMALE GAMESTERS 269 three times at the door of a house at the farther extrem- ity. It was opened in a few moments by a female, and a hght glimmered faintly forth; but the door was only thus opened to the length of a chain which held it secure, until Madge Somers mentioned her name, for in the darkness of that court her countenance was scarcely discernible even with the glimmering light that struggled out. Then the chain was let loose, the door opened, and she exchanged a few words with the female who had thus given her admittance. This was the mistress of the house, — the presiding genius of one of the vilest dens which then existed, or still exist, in the British metropolis. She was an elderly woman, with a pale, ghosthke countenance, and small dark eyes, glitter- ing like those of a reptile, but looking larger than they were by reason of the blue circles of the hollow caverns wherein they were set. Her features were sharp, even painfully thin, and her mouth, surrounded by wrinkles, was drawn in with a constant habit of compression. Some grizzly sray hair escaped from beneath a dirty white cap, which added to the corpselike appearance of her countenance. Her figure was lean and shrivelled; she wore a soiled, rusty black stuff gown, and seemed to have but very little under- clothing, for the skirt fell straight, without the slightest bulging out from the waist. Altogether she was a hideous- looking creature,— not merely repulsive, but a woman whose aspect was sufficient to make a beholder afraid. A capacity for any wickedness was as legible upon that vile countenance as if her character had been printed thereon. She led the way down a narrow, dirty, dilapidated stair- case, into a back kitchen. ‘This place was not more than hiteen feet square, and all the centre was occupied by a large deal table. There was a rude form on each side, and a wooden stool at either extremity. Two tallow candles in brass sticks stood upon the table, around which were crowded — indeed, huddled as closely as they could pack themselves —a number of females, whose ages ranged from the young girl of thirteen or fourteen to the old hag of seventy or eighty. The heat was stifling, but the company present appeared not to feel the least inconvenience from that sickly atmosphere, —all their thoughts and all their senses being absorbed in the occupation that was going on. And this was gambling. COnNICOOOKS (FO)