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69 - Mysteries of London Vol I part 1 by George W M Reynolds · Mysteries of London Vol. I part 1

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  Speaker 1: The reader at all acquainted with German literature may probably
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  Speaker 1: remember some of those old tales of demonology and witchcraft,
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  Speaker 1: in which assemblies of jovial revelers are frequently dismayed and
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  Speaker 1: overawed by the sudden entrance of some mysterious stranger, perhaps
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  Speaker 1: a night in black armor with his visor closed, or
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  Speaker 1: a monk with his cull drawn over his countenance. If
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  Speaker 1: the recollection of such an episode in the sphere of
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  Speaker 1: romance recur to the reader's mind, he will have no
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  Speaker 1: difficulty in comprehending, as when we state that the presence
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  Speaker 1: of the short, thick set, middle aged stranger caused an
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  Speaker 1: immediate damp to fall upon the spirits of the company
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  Speaker 1: in the dark house parlor. The stranger seemed to take
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  Speaker 1: no notice of anyone present, but drank his grog, lighted
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  Speaker 1: his cigar, and settled himself in his seat, apparently with
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  Speaker 1: the view of making himself very comfortable. Still, there was
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  Speaker 1: something sinisar and mysterious about this man which did not
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  Speaker 1: exactly please the other inmates of the room. And as
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  Speaker 1: we cannot suppose that the consciences of these persons were
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  Speaker 1: over pure, the least appearance of ambiguity to them was
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  Speaker 1: an instantaneous omen of danger. Like the dog that sensed
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  Speaker 1: the corpse of the murdered victim, even when buried deep
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  Speaker 1: in the earth, those wretches possessed an instinct marvelously sensitive
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  Speaker 1: and acute in perceiving the approach or presence of peril.
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  Speaker 1: And yet to a common beholder there was nothing very
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  Speaker 1: remarkable about that stranger. He was a plain looking, quiet,
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  Speaker 1: shabbily dressed person, and one who seemed anxious to smoke
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  Speaker 1: his cigar in peace, and neither speak nor be spoken. Too,
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  Speaker 1: good reader, It was the reserve of this man, his
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  Speaker 1: staid and serious demeanor, his tranquil countenance, and his exclusive
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  Speaker 1: manner altogether that created the unpleasant impress we have described.
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  Speaker 1: Had he entered the room with a swagger, banged the
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  Speaker 1: door behind him, sworn at the waiter, or nodded to
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  Speaker 1: one single individual present, he would have produced no embarrassing
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  Speaker 1: sensation whatever. But he was unknown, what then could he
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  Speaker 1: do there where all were well known to each other. However,
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  Speaker 1: he continued to smoke with his eyes intently fixed upon
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  Speaker 1: the bluish reefs that ascended slowly and fantastically from the
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  Speaker 1: end of his cigar, and for five minutes after his entrance,
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  Speaker 1: not a word was spoken. At length, the coal whipper
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  Speaker 1: broke silence. Well, my dear, he said, addressing himself to
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  Speaker 1: the unfortunate girl, who had already narrated a portion of
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  Speaker 1: her adventures. You haven't done your story yet. Oh, I
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  Speaker 1: do not feel in the humor to go on with
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  Speaker 1: it to night, she exclaimed, glancing uneasily toward the stranger. Indeed,
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  Speaker 1: I recollect I have an appointment close by, she hesitated, then,
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  Speaker 1: apparently mustering up her courage, cried good night all and
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  Speaker 1: left the room. Who the dunce is that feller tony,
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  Speaker 1: demanded the Cracksman in a whisper of his companion. I
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  Speaker 1: can't say I like his appearance at all, Oh nonsense,
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  Speaker 1: answered the resurrection man. He is some quiet chap that
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  Speaker 1: doesn't like to smoke and talk at the same time.
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  Speaker 1: But don't it seem as how he'd throw it a
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  Speaker 1: damp on the whole party, continued the Cracksman in the
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  Speaker 1: same subdued tone. Do you take me for a child
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  Speaker 1: that's frightened at a shadow? Said the resurrection Man savagely.
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  Speaker 1: I suppose you are afraid that this young Holford will
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  Speaker 1: play as false? Why what could he do to us?
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  Speaker 1: Anything he revealed would only implicate himself. He knows nothing
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  Speaker 1: about our games up by the bird cage walk there
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  Speaker 1: I forgot that. No more he doesn't, cried the cracksman.
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  Speaker 1: There a nobody can do us any harm that I
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  Speaker 1: know on one and one only, answered the resurrection man,
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  Speaker 1: sinking his already subdued tone to the lowest possible whisper.
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  Speaker 1: One only, I say, can injure us, and he will
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  Speaker 1: not dare to do it. Who the devil do you mean?
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  Speaker 1: Demanded the cracksman. I mean the only man that ever
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  Speaker 1: escaped out of the crib up by the walk after
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  Speaker 1: he'd received a blow from my stick, answered the resurrection man.
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  Speaker 1: You don't mean to say tony, whispered the cracksman, his
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  Speaker 1: countenance giving the most unequivocal signs of alarm. That there's
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  Speaker 1: a breathing soul which ever went in the door of
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  Speaker 1: that crib and intended a victim and come out alive again.
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  Speaker 1: Never do you mind? Now? We shall make all the
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  Speaker 1: people stare at us if we go on whispering in
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  Speaker 1: this way. Supposing anyone did mean to nose upon it's
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  Speaker 1: happn't we got our bankers in our pocket? Ah tony,
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  Speaker 1: said the cracksman, in whose mind these words of his
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  Speaker 1: companion seemed to rouse a sudden and most disagreeable idea.
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  Speaker 1: Talking about nosing makes us remember some of what was
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  Speaker 1: told a few days ago at Rat's Castle and the rookery.
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  Speaker 1: And what was that? Asked the resurrection man, surveying his
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  Speaker 1: friend with his serpent like eyes and a man that
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  Speaker 1: made him actually quail beneath his glance? What was it?
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  Speaker 1: Repeated the cracksman, who appeared to hesitate whether he should
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  Speaker 1: proceed or not. Why I heard a magsman say that
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  Speaker 1: you nosed upon poor krankening Jim, and that was the
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  Speaker 1: reason he got lagged. And you was acquitted three year
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  Speaker 1: ago at Old Bailey. And what did you say to that?
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  Speaker 1: Demanded the resurrection man, looking from beneath his bushy brows
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  Speaker 1: of the cracksman, as the goal in Eastern mythology may
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  Speaker 1: be supposed to gaze on the continence of him who
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  Speaker 1: he marks for his victim. What did I say, answered
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  Speaker 1: the cracksman, in a hoarse whisper. Why I knocked the
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  Speaker 1: fellow down, to be sure, And you did what you
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  Speaker 1: ought to do, and what I should have done if
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  Speaker 1: any had told me of that of you, said the
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  Speaker 1: resurrection Man, in a tone of the most perfect composure.
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  Speaker 1: While this conversation took place hurriedly and in whispers, the
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  Speaker 1: mysterious stranger continued to smoke his cigar without once glancing
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  Speaker 1: around him, and the other inmates of the dark house parlor,
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  Speaker 1: recovering a little from their panic of the instrance of
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  Speaker 1: the individual, made a faint attempt to renew the discourse.
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  Speaker 1: But although the eyes of the stranger were apparently occupied
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  Speaker 1: in watching the reefs of smoke as they curled upwards
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  Speaker 1: to the ceiling, they were in reality intent upon the
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  Speaker 1: parlor window, the lower part of which alone was darkened
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  Speaker 1: by the sliding shutter that lifted up and down. There
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  Speaker 1: was a bright lamp over the front door of the
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  Speaker 1: public house, and thus the heads of all the passengers
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  Speaker 1: in the street might be described as they passed the
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  Speaker 1: window by the inmates of the parlor. I say, ben,
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  Speaker 1: exclaimed one reveler to another. Have you heard that they're
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  Speaker 1: going to lay out a park by Bonner's Road and
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  Speaker 1: Hackney Wick? Yes, the Victoria Park, was the reply. Only
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  Speaker 1: fancy giving them poor devils of Spittlefield's weavers a park
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  Speaker 1: to walk in instead of filling their bellies. But I
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  Speaker 1: suppose they'll make a precious deep pond in it? What four,
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  Speaker 1: demanded the first speaker, Why for the poor creatures to
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  Speaker 1: drown their selves in? To be sure? At this moment,
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  Speaker 1: the countenance of a man in the street peered for
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  Speaker 1: a single instant over the shutter, and was then immediately withdrawn,
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  Speaker 1: but not before a significant glance had been exchanged with
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  Speaker 1: the stranger sitting in the neighborhood of the door. All this, however,
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  Speaker 1: remained entirely unnoticed by the male and female revelers in
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  Speaker 1: the parlor well. It's gone nine, whispered the Cracksman to
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  Speaker 1: his companion. And this fellow Hofer don't come. It's my
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  Speaker 1: opinion he ain't a goin to. We'll give him a
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  Speaker 1: half hour's grace, returned the resurrection man. The young fool
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  Speaker 1: is hard up and won't let the hope of five
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  Speaker 1: colters slip through his brain quite so easily. Half an
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  Speaker 1: hour's grace, as you say, tony, whispered the Cracksman. And
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  Speaker 1: then if he don't come, we'll be off. Eh. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: just as you like, growled the resurrection Man. You seem
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  Speaker 1: quite chicken hearted to night Tom. I don't know how
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  Speaker 1: it is, answered the Cracksman, but I've got a per sentiment,
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  Speaker 1: as he calls it, of evil. The sight at that
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  Speaker 1: there feller there, and he nodded towards the stranger. Humbug,
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  Speaker 1: interrupted the resurrection man. You haven't had grog enough, that's it.
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  Speaker 1: He accordingly ordered the waiter to supply fresh tumblers of
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  Speaker 1: hot liquor, and the next half hours slipped away rapidly enough.
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  Speaker 1: But no Henry Holford made his appearance. At a quarter
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  Speaker 1: to ten. The two villains rose, and, having settled their score,
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  Speaker 1: departed scarcely had the parlor door closed behind them, when
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  Speaker 1: the short, thickset stranger also retreated precipitately from the room.
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  Speaker 1: Disappointed and in an ill humor, the resurrection Man and
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  Speaker 1: the Cracksmen hurried away from the dark house towards the
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  Speaker 1: din situated in the immediate vicinity of the bird cage walk.
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  Speaker 1: The streets were ankled deep in mud, A thin, mizzling
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  Speaker 1: rain was falling, and neither moon nor stars appeared upon
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  Speaker 1: the dark and murky field of heaven. The two men
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  Speaker 1: walked one a little in advance of the other, until
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  Speaker 1: they reached the top of Brick Lane, where they separated
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  Speaker 1: for the purpose of proceeding by different roots towards the
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  Speaker 1: same point, a precaution they invariably adopted after quitting any
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  Speaker 1: public house in each other's company. But so well were
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  Speaker 1: the arrangements of the police concocted that while the resurrection
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  Speaker 1: Man continued his way along Tyson Street and the Cracksmen
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  Speaker 1: turned to the right in Church Street until he reached
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  Speaker 1: Samuel Street, up which he proceeded. An active officer followed
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  Speaker 1: each while in the neighborhood of Virginia Street and the
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  Speaker 1: Birdcage Walk, numerous policemen were concealed in dark alleys, lone courts,
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  Speaker 1: and obscure knooks, ready to hasten to any point whence
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  Speaker 1: the spring of rattles might presently emanate. Also concealed in
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  Speaker 1: a convenient hiding place, and anxiously awaiting the result of
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  Speaker 1: the various combinations affected to discover the din of murderers,
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  Speaker 1: Richard Markham was prepared to aid in the operations of
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  Speaker 1: the night. Meantime, the resurrection Man pursued one route, in
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  Speaker 1: the Cracksman another both converging towards the same point, but
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  Speaker 1: neither individual suspected that danger was on a side. They
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  Speaker 1: advanced as confidently as the flies that worked their way
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  Speaker 1: amidst the tangled web of the spider. At length, the
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  Speaker 1: resurrection man reached his house, and almost at the same moment,
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  Speaker 1: the other ruffian arrived at the door. All right, tom
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  Speaker 1: all right, tony, and the resurrection man opened the door,
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  Speaker 1: he simply pressing his foot forcibly against it in a
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  Speaker 1: peculiar manner. He entered the passage, followed by the cracksmen,
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  Speaker 1: which later individual turned to close the door when it
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  Speaker 1: was burst wide open, and a half dozen policemen rushed
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  Speaker 1: into the house. Damnation, cried the resurrection man. We are
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  Speaker 1: sold and darting down the passage, he rushed into the
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  Speaker 1: little back room, the door of which he succeeded in
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  Speaker 1: closing and fastening against the officers. But the cracksmen had
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  Speaker 1: fallen into the hands of the police and was immediately secured.
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  Speaker 1: Rattles were sprung in the sudden, unexpected din breaking upon
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  Speaker 1: the solemn silence of the place and hour startled the
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  Speaker 1: poor and the guilty in their wretched abodes break open
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  Speaker 1: the door. There cried the sergeant, who commanded the police,
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  Speaker 1: and who was no other than the mysterious stranger of
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  Speaker 1: the dark house parlor. Break open that door, and two
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  Speaker 1: of you run upstairs. This moment, as he spoke, a
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  Speaker 1: strong light shone from the top of the staircase. The
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  Speaker 1: officers cast their eyes in that direction and beheld a
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  Speaker 1: hideous old woman scowling down upon them. In her hand
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  Speaker 1: she carried a candle, the light of which was thrown
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  Speaker 1: forward in a vivid flood by the reflection of the large,
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  Speaker 1: bright tin shade. This horrible old woman was the Mummy.
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  Speaker 1: Already were two of the officers half way up the staircase.
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  Speaker 1: Already was the door of the back room on the
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  Speaker 1: ground floor, yielding to the strength of the constable. Already
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  Speaker 1: were Richard Markham and several officers hurrying down the street
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  Speaker 1: towards the spot, obedient to the signal conveyed by the
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  Speaker 1: springing of the rattles. When a terrific explosion took place,
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  Speaker 1: Good God ejaculated Markham. What can that mean? There? There
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  Speaker 1: cried a policeman near him. It's all over with the
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  Speaker 1: sergeant in my poor comrades. Immediately after the explosion, and
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  Speaker 1: while Markham and the officer were yet speaking, a bright
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  Speaker 1: column of fire shot up into the air. Millions and
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  Speaker 1: millions of sparks, glistening, vividly, showered down upon the scene
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  Speaker 1: of havoc. For a moment, a single moment, the very
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  Speaker 1: heaven seemed on fire. Then all was black and silent,
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  Speaker 1: and doubly somber. The dinner of the assailants had ceased
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  Speaker 1: to exist. It had been destroyed by gunpowder. The blackened
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  Speaker 1: remains in dismembered relics of mortality were discovered on the
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  Speaker 1: following morning amidst the ruins or in the immediate neighborhood,
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  Speaker 1: but it was impossible to ascertain how many persons had
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  Speaker 1: perished on this dreadful occasion. End of Chapter sixty six,
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  Speaker 1: recording by Judy gaynin