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93 - Mysteries of London Vol II by George W M Reynolds · Mysteries of London Vol. II

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Speaker 1: Section ninety three, Chapter two hundred twenty eight. A desperate achievement.
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Speaker 1: It was, as the readers must remember, in the middle
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Speaker 1: of the month of March when these events occurred. At
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Speaker 1: that season of the year, the sun sets at about
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Speaker 1: six o'clock, and it is consequently dark at seven. The
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Speaker 1: resurrection man was no sooner left undisturbed for the night
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Speaker 1: when he commenced the arduous and almost desperate attempt of
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Speaker 1: an escape from the prison. Taking off his coat, he
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Speaker 1: tore open the lining of the collar and drew forth
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Speaker 1: two files scarcely larger than watch springs and made of
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Speaker 1: steel of an equally fine temper. Thanks to my precaution
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Speaker 1: in never moving away from home without such tools as
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Speaker 1: these about me, he exclaimed, as he bent the files
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Speaker 1: almost double to try their elasticity, and then drew them
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Speaker 1: over one of his nails to test the keenness of
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Speaker 1: their teeth. It is not an uncommon seen circumstance for
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Speaker 1: the police magistrates at the offices not within the city
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Speaker 1: of London to remand prisoners accused of heinous crimes to
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Speaker 1: cold bath fields jail, and as such, persons cannot, according
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Speaker 1: to the law, be deemed guilty until they be declared
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Speaker 1: so by a jury they are not lodged in the
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Speaker 1: common dark cells allotted to misdemeanance or criminals sentenced to imprisonment.
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Speaker 1: Within those walls there is a room specially appropriated to
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Speaker 1: the use of untried individuals who are sent to cold
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Speaker 1: bath fields. That chamber is capable of holding four or
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Speaker 1: five beds, and has two windows looking upon the prison grounds.
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Speaker 1: Those windows are, however, secured by strong iron bars outside
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Speaker 1: the casements, which are made to open for the purpose
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Speaker 1: of airing the room in the daytime. Tiitkins had already
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Speaker 1: carefully examined these bars and had calculated, too a nicety
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Speaker 1: the exact time which it would occupy him to remove
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Speaker 1: two of them by means of his files. It was
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Speaker 1: seven o'clock when he commenced his labor, and as the
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Speaker 1: clock of the church on Clerkenwell Green struck eleven. That
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Speaker 1: portion of his task was accomplished true to a minute,
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Speaker 1: muttered the resurrection man to himself, with a low chuckle
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Speaker 1: of triumph. I reckoned on four hours to do it in,
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Speaker 1: but his fingers were cut and lacerated with the process.
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Speaker 1: He however, assuaged the pane by greasing the flesh, with
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Speaker 1: the remainder of the gruel left in his bowl. The
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Speaker 1: next proceeding was to tear his bedding into slips wherewith
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Speaker 1: to form a rope, and this was accomplished in about
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Speaker 1: half an hour. The window was not very high from
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Speaker 1: the ground, and he did not dread the descent, but
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Speaker 1: the moon was shining brightly, and he knew that watchmen
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Speaker 1: carrying firearms kept guard in the prison grounds. He looked
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Speaker 1: up at the lovely planet of the night, whose chaste
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Speaker 1: splendor was at that moment blessed by so many travelers
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Speaker 1: alike upon the land and on the ocean, and he
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Speaker 1: uttered a fearful imprecation against its pure, silvery luster. But
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Speaker 1: he did not hesitate many minutes. His case was desperate,
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Speaker 1: so was his character. Better receive an ounce of lead
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Speaker 1: in the heart than dance on nothing in six weeks,
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Speaker 1: or so, he said to himself, as he fastened the
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Speaker 1: rope to the bar which stood next to the place
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Speaker 1: of the two that he had removed. Then he passed
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Speaker 1: his legs through the window, and, clinging by his hands
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Speaker 1: and feet, slid slowly and safely down the rope. He
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Speaker 1: was now in the grounds belonging to the prison, but
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Speaker 1: the high wall that bounded the enclosure separated him from
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Speaker 1: the street. Cautiously and noiselessly did he creep along beneath
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Speaker 1: the shade of the building, directing his steps towards the
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Speaker 1: treadwheel yard in which he had been permitted to take exit.
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Speaker 1: As above stated, Suddenly the noise of footsteps and voices
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Speaker 1: fell upon his ears. And those ominous sounds were approaching perdition,
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Speaker 1: thought the resurrection man, as he crouched up close beneath
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Speaker 1: the building. I could have managed one. I could have
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Speaker 1: sprung upon him, strangled him in a moment, but two two,
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Speaker 1: and he ground his teeth with rage. And so you
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Speaker 1: was at the old Bailey to day, said one of
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Speaker 1: the watchmen to his companion, as they advanced round that
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Speaker 1: part of the prison. Yes, it was me a holiday,
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Speaker 1: was the reply. And so I thought I might as
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Speaker 1: well go near the trial that young Holford, you know,
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Speaker 1: who shot at the Queen. The jury had a good
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Speaker 1: deal of trouble at come into a verdict, but at
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Speaker 1: last they acquitted him on the ground of insanity. Ah,
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Speaker 1: said the first speaker. Then he's let out again. Do
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Speaker 1: so bitter that exclaimed his companion. The judge ordered him
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Speaker 1: to be detained till the royal pleasure should be known,
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Speaker 1: and so Hugh gets sent to bedlam for the rest
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Speaker 1: of his life. Do you think he's mad? Did he
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Speaker 1: look mad? Not? He He's no more mad than me.
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Speaker 1: He seemed a little gloomy and sulky, but not mad.
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Speaker 1: The only time he showed any interest in the proceedings
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Speaker 1: was when a witness called jem Cuffin was examined, and
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Speaker 1: this chap said all he could in favor of the youngster,
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Speaker 1: although he wasn't able to deny he saw him fire
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Speaker 1: at the Queen and Prince Albert. But the best of
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Speaker 1: it was this jem Cuffin proved that the pistols wasn't
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Speaker 1: loaded at all. Hoford did not, however, know that when
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Speaker 1: he fired them. So the young fellow has managed to
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Speaker 1: get bored and lodging for life. And jem Cuffin, who
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Speaker 1: is a return transport it seems, and had been in
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Speaker 1: custody for some time, was discharged on a full pardon
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Speaker 1: granted by the Home Secretary. It must have been an
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Speaker 1: interesting trial, observed the first speaker. Yes, Sir, his companion,
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Speaker 1: But I'll tell you what will be more interesting still,
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Speaker 1: and that is the trial of Tony Tidkins. Whenever it
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Speaker 1: comes on, Lord, what things that fellow has done in
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Speaker 1: his time? Talk of Jack Shepherd or Dick Turpin, or
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Speaker 1: any of the old criminals, Why they are nothing at
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Speaker 1: all compared with this Tidgins. Ah, some run things will
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Speaker 1: come out when he goes up afore the knobs of
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Speaker 1: the old bailey. The two men had stopped within half
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Speaker 1: a dozen yards of the place where the resurrection man
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Speaker 1: was crouched up in the deep shade of the building,
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Speaker 1: and every word of the above conversation met his ears.
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Speaker 1: In spite of the peril the discovery, which now seemed inevitable,
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Speaker 1: the miscreant experienced a momentary feeling of pride and triumph
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Speaker 1: as he listened to the observations which were made concerning himself. Well,
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Speaker 1: I must go round the other way, said one of
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Speaker 1: the watchmen, after a short pause. We should get blown
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Speaker 1: up if we was found together, specially talking in a
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Speaker 1: prison on the silent system. This was meant as a joke,
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Speaker 1: and so the two men chuckled at it. Titkins also
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Speaker 1: chuckled within himself, because he had just learnt that the
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Speaker 1: watchmen intended to separate, and that consequently only one would
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Speaker 1: pass him. He was still menaced with a fearful peril,
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Speaker 1: but he considered it to be only one half so
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Speaker 1: great as it had seemed a few moments previously. Midnight
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Speaker 1: was now proclaimed by the iron tongue of the Clerkenwell Church,
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Speaker 1: and the two watchmen parted, one retracing his steps round
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Speaker 1: the building, and the other slowly advancing towards Titkins. I
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Speaker 1: must spring on him and throttle him. In a moment,
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Speaker 1: thought the resurrection man, clenching his fingers as if they
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Speaker 1: already held the intended victim's neck in their iron grasp.
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Speaker 1: But providence saved the miscreant from that additional crime. The
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Speaker 1: watchman struck abruptly away from the neighborhood of the building
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Speaker 1: and walked towards the boundary wall. His back was now
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Speaker 1: turned upon Titkins, who lost no time in availing himself
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Speaker 1: of this unexpected relief from the danger which had threatened him.
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Speaker 1: In fact, the very circumstance of the two watchmen having
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Speaker 1: advanced so close to him in each other's company, which
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Speaker 1: circumstance had menaced him with a detection that seemed unavoidable.
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Speaker 1: Now proved most advantageous to his scheme, For as he
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Speaker 1: hurried rapidly on towards the first treadwheel yard, he passed
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Speaker 1: between the two watchmen, each of whom was retreating farther
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Speaker 1: from him, the one by retracing his steps round the building,
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Speaker 1: and the other by lounging towards the wall. Thus, while
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Speaker 1: the backs were turned upon him, he gained in safety
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Speaker 1: the treadwheel yard where he had taken exercise, and every
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Speaker 1: point of which he had accurately committed to memory. His
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Speaker 1: movements were now executed with the rapidity of one who
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Speaker 1: had well weighed and pre considered them. Taking from a
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Speaker 1: corner a gardener's basket which he had previously noticed there,
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Speaker 1: and which was used to convey the potatoes that were
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Speaker 1: dug up in the prison grounds, and it bottom upwards
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Speaker 1: against a low building or outhouse, which abutted with a
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Speaker 1: shelving slate roof against the high wall. By means of
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Speaker 1: the basket, he raised himself upon this roof, crept upon it,
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Speaker 1: and with one nimble spring upwards, was unable to catch it.
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Speaker 1: At the cheveaux de frieze, or revolving iron spikes, which
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Speaker 1: were fixed near the top of the wall, and which
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Speaker 1: thus hung over the outhouse. Careless of the wounds which
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Speaker 1: he received from the Cheveaux de Frieze, he scrambled over
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Speaker 1: them and gained the top of the wall. The wall
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Speaker 1: was much too high to permit him to drop into
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Speaker 1: the street with any chance of escaping a broken limb.
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Speaker 1: This he had previously reflected upon, and he now commenced
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Speaker 1: with the desperate feet of walking along the summit of
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Speaker 1: that lofty wall, with the bright moon shining above, and
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Speaker 1: the almost positive certainty of being observed by the watchman
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Speaker 1: inside the prison. To increase the personal danger incurred by
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Speaker 1: this extraordinary undertaking the walls, he raked guiller on the top,
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Speaker 1: breaking into sudden and abrupt falls towards the south western angle,
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Speaker 1: and then rising with elevations equally abrupt from that point
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Speaker 1: to the northwestern angle. This peculiarity of structure is caused
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Speaker 1: by the unevenness of the ground on which the entire establishment,
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Speaker 1: with all its enclosures, stands. The journey along the top
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Speaker 1: of the walls was not even a short one. The
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Speaker 1: object of the resurrection man was to reach the houses
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Speaker 1: in Guildford Place, which joined the prison wall on the
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Speaker 1: eastern side. The point where he ascended was nearly at
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Speaker 1: the middle of the southern wall, but between him and
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Speaker 1: the south eastern angle stood the gates and the Governor's house,
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Speaker 1: which he could not pass. He therefore had to make
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Speaker 1: a circuit comprising nearly half the southern wall, all the
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Speaker 1: western wall, all the northern wall, and then a part
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Speaker 1: of the eastern wall. In this in the largest prison
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Speaker 1: in England. It was a desperate venture, But as we
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Speaker 1: have before said, Tidkins was a desperate man, and his
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Speaker 1: case was also desperate. Fortune often aids the unworthy, and
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Speaker 1: she did so upon this occasion. Scarcely had the resurrection
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Speaker 1: man proceeded twenty yards along the wall, when the moon,
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Speaker 1: hitherto so lovely, became suddenly obscured, and a huge black
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Speaker 1: cloud swept over its face. Tidkins cast one rapid glance upwards,
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Speaker 1: and his heart leapt within him, as he said to himself,
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Speaker 1: it will be dark like this long enough for my purpose.
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Speaker 1: On he went walking upright and rapidly, with scarcely an
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Speaker 1: unusual effort to balance himself upon that giddy height, and
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Speaker 1: stooping only when he reached any of those abrupt descents
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Speaker 1: or ascents in the structure of the wall, which we
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Speaker 1: have ere now noticed. And now he has gained safely
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Speaker 1: gained the northwestern angle. He is pursuing his way along
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Speaker 1: the wall, which looks upon Calthorpe Street. At the slightest
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Speaker 1: signal of alarm, he is prepared to risk his life
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Speaker 1: by leaping from the wall, but no one observes him.
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Speaker 1: It is now quite dark, and he is far away
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Speaker 1: from that part of the prison where the watchmen walk,
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Speaker 1: and the street beneath is empty. Here and there are
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Speaker 1: lights in the upper windows of the adjacent houses. He
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Speaker 1: can almost see into those rooms above the level of
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Speaker 1: which he is placed. Looking to his right, he perceives
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Speaker 1: the dark outlines of the prison buildings, between which and
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Speaker 1: the northern wall whereon he is now walking there is
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Speaker 1: a considerable interval, the intermediate space being occupied by the
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Speaker 1: jail gardens. His heart beats joyfully, triumphantly, he has gained
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Speaker 1: the northeastern angle. A glance to the left shows him
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Speaker 1: the lights of Bagniggie Wells. Before him are those of
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Speaker 1: Wilmington Square, and to his right is Guildford Place. He
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Speaker 1: felt that he was beyond the reach of danger, and
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Speaker 1: so exhilarating was his joy that a momentary dizziness seized
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Speaker 1: upon him, and he nearly fell over within the precincts
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Speaker 1: of the jail, But recovering his balance by an extraordinary exertion,
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Speaker 1: he planted his feet more firmly than ever on the
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Speaker 1: wall and continued his walk along dizzy height. He was
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Speaker 1: now again in danger of discovery, for he had reached
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Speaker 1: that part of the eastern wall against which the buildings
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Speaker 1: and treadwheel yards of the Female's Department stood, and in
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Speaker 1: the immediate vicinity of which a watchman was stationed. Nevertheless,
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Speaker 1: the houses in Guildford Place were near, and their back
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Speaker 1: premises arebutted against the outer side of the wall along
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Speaker 1: which he was now proceeding. One minute more of that
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Speaker 1: dark cloud upon the moon, and I am safe, he
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Speaker 1: said to himself, as he cast a rapid glance upwards.
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Speaker 1: But no, the cloud passes. It has passed, and the
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Speaker 1: bright moon suddenly burst forward with a flood of silver light.
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Speaker 1: Almost at the same instant, a loud voice raises an
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Speaker 1: alarm within the precincts of the jail. The sharp crack
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Speaker 1: of a blunderbuss is heard, and a bullet whistles past
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Speaker 1: the resurrection man, whose dark form, as seen by the
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Speaker 1: watchman near the female's department, stands out in strong relief
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Speaker 1: against the moonlit sky. The cry of the watchman is
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Speaker 1: echoed by other voices on the prison side of the wall,
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Speaker 1: and Tidkins mutters a terrible curse as he hurries forward,
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Speaker 1: But his courage does not fail him. No, he is
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Speaker 1: determined to sell his life as dearly as possible. In
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Speaker 1: less than a minute after the watchman within the enclosure
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Speaker 1: had raised the alarm, the resurrection Man reached the backs
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Speaker 1: of the houses in Guildford Place, and now the clear
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Speaker 1: moonlight was of the utmost service to him in enabling
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Speaker 1: him to execute his movements with security and caution. He
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Speaker 1: lowered himself from the prison wall to the roof of
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Speaker 1: an outhouse, and thence alighted in a yard attached to
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Speaker 1: a dwell. The back door of the house was locked
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Speaker 1: and bolted inside, but this was a small obstacle in
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Speaker 1: the way of one who had just escaped from the
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Speaker 1: Middlesex House of Correction. Unable to waste time by proceeding
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Speaker 1: with caution, and compelled to risk the chance of alarming
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Speaker 1: the inhabitants of the dwelling. The desperate man threw himself
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Speaker 1: with all his strength against the door, which broke inwards
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Speaker 1: with a loud crash. The noise was followed by ejaculations
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Speaker 1: of alarm in the house. Footsteps were heard overhead, windows
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Speaker 1: were thrown open, and the cry of thieves echoed along
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Speaker 1: the street. Tidkins paused not to reflect. He dashed through
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Speaker 1: the house along the passage to the front door, the
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Speaker 1: bolts of which he drew back. In a moment the
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Speaker 1: key was in the lock. Everything now appeared to favor
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Speaker 1: the escape of the resurrection man. The front door was
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Speaker 1: opened in a few moments, just as the inmates of
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Speaker 1: the dwelling were rushing down the stairs, but when they
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Speaker 1: reached the passage, the door closed violently behind the intruder
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Speaker 1: who had caused their alarm. The resurrection Man was safe
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Speaker 1: in the open street, and he knew that he had
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Speaker 1: a good start of the prison watchman, who would have
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Speaker 1: to make a considerable circuit from the vicinity of the
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Speaker 1: female's department to the gates, and from the gates round
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Speaker 1: the southeastern angle ere they could reach the point from
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Speaker 1: which he was now departing swift as an arrow. He
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Speaker 1: scud up Guildford Place, turned to the right, and slackened
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Speaker 1: his pace. Only when he had passed through Wilmington Square
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Speaker 1: he gained the City Road, along which he walked somewhat
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Speaker 1: leisurely towards Finsbury, well aware that his pursuers would not
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Speaker 1: think of looking for him in a wide and open thoroughfare,
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Speaker 1: but would rather prosecute their searches in the narrow lanes
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Speaker 1: and low districts in the immediate neighborhood of the jail.
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Speaker 1: His object was to gain his den in Globetown, for
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Speaker 1: not a word had transpired during his examination before the
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Speaker 1: magistrate at Lambeth Street to show that the police had
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Speaker 1: any clue to his place of abode, and he felt
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Speaker 1: certain that Banks would not have been trade him. The undertaker,
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Speaker 1: he knew, was too deeply concerned in many of his
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Speaker 1: plots and schemes to risk a general smash of the
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Speaker 1: whole gang by making any unpleasant revelations. The resurrection Man
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Speaker 1: struck from the City Road into Old Street and speedily
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Speaker 1: reached Shoreditch. As he passed down one of the horrible
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Speaker 1: lanes which lie behind Shoreditch Church, he observed the door
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Speaker 1: of a public house to be open. He was well
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Speaker 1: aware of the flash character of the place, but did
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Speaker 1: not happen to be known by the people who kept it.
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Speaker 1: He entered this low boozing ken, ordered a glass of
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Speaker 1: something at the bar, and inquired for the evening paper.
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Speaker 1: It was immediately handed to him for all flash houses
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Speaker 1: of that description taken evening as well as a morning journal,
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Speaker 1: that their customers may receive the earliest intelligence of each
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Speaker 1: day's police or Old Bailey proceedings, matters in which the
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Speaker 1: generality of them are very frequently interested. Titkin's turn to
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Speaker 1: the most recent police intelligence and found his own case
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Speaker 1: duly reported. Nothing, however, was said in that or any
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Speaker 1: other department of the paper which tended to excite an
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Speaker 1: alarm lest his house in Globetown had been discovered, or
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Speaker 1: any of his complices in his various crimes had been traced.
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Speaker 1: Thus reassured, he drank off the contents of his glass,
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Speaker 1: and then recollected that he had no money in his
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Speaker 1: pocket to pay for it. All he had about him
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Speaker 1: when he was arrested had been taken from him, according
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Speaker 1: to custom. On his remover to Coldbath Fields. Scarcely had
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Speaker 1: this new embarrassment presented itself to his mind. When the
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Speaker 1: door of the tap room opened and a man came
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Speaker 1: forth to Titdkins's infinite relief. It proved to be the
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Speaker 1: Buffer who started when he saw his old friend at liberty.
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Speaker 1: The resurrection man placed his finger upon his lip, and
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Speaker 1: the Buffer instantly checked the ejaculation of astonishment which had
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Speaker 1: risen to his tongue. The trifling debt incurred for the
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Speaker 1: liquor was immediately settled by the resurrection man's friend, and
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Speaker 1: the precious pair left the boozing ken together. As they
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Speaker 1: walked along towards Globetown, Anthony Tidkins related the particulars of
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Speaker 1: escape at which the Buffer was monstrously delighted. Then, in
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Speaker 1: reply to the resurrection Man's questions, the other stated that
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Speaker 1: he had seen Banks on the previous afternoon, and that
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Speaker 1: no inquiries of his suspicious nature had been made at
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Speaker 1: that individual's abode. When they reached the door of the
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Speaker 1: resurrection man's house in Globetown, the Buffer took leave of
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Speaker 1: his friend with a promise to call in the course
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Speaker 1: of the day and bring the morning's newspapers. Tidkins was
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Speaker 1: overjoyed when he again set foot in his back room
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Speaker 1: on the first floor, and finding some gin in the cupboard,
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Speaker 1: he celebrated his escape and return with a copious dram
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Speaker 1: He did not immediately retire to bed, although he were
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Speaker 1: sadly fatigued and bruised by the achievements of the night,
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Speaker 1: But taking down a bundle of keys from a shelf,
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Speaker 1: he paid a visit to the subterranean department of his establishment.
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Speaker 1: The moment he placed the key in the lock of
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Speaker 1: the private door up the narrow alley, he uttered a curse, adding,
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Speaker 1: this lock has been tried tampered with. I know it,
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Speaker 1: I could swear to it. I can tell by the
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Speaker 1: way the key turns. And the perspiration ran down his countenance,
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Speaker 1: for he trembled for the safety of his treasure. With
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Speaker 1: feverish impatience. He opened the door and entered that part
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Speaker 1: of his strangely built house, having obtained a light. A
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Speaker 1: new circumstance of alarm struck him. The door of the
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Speaker 1: back room was standing wide open, and I can swear
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Speaker 1: I closed the last time I ever came here, he
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Speaker 1: cried aloud. Some one has been to this place, and
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Speaker 1: that someone must be banks the sneaking scoundrel, but he
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Speaker 1: shall suffer for it. With a perception as keen as
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Speaker 1: that of a North American Indian following the trail of
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Speaker 1: a fugitive foe, did the resurrect man examined the floor
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Speaker 1: of the room, and his suspicions that someone had been
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Speaker 1: thither were confirmed by the appearance of several particles of
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Speaker 1: damp dirt, which had evidently been left by the feet
21:11
Speaker 1: of an intruder within the last few hours. Worse and
21:15
Speaker 1: worse thought the resurrection Man, and by Satan, the trap
21:19
Speaker 1: has been raised. This was evident, for the brick which
21:23
Speaker 1: covered the iron ring in the masonry of the chimney
21:26
Speaker 1: had not been restored to its place. I could not
21:30
Speaker 1: have left it, so cried Titkins aloud. No, it is
21:34
Speaker 1: impossible someone has been here. With almost frantic impatience, he
21:40
Speaker 1: raised the trap and descended into the subterranean, entering one
21:44
Speaker 1: of the cells, not the same whence the rattlesnake had
21:48
Speaker 1: stolen his treasures. He raised a stone, and then almost
21:51
Speaker 1: shrank from glancing into the hollow, thus laid open but
21:55
Speaker 1: mastering his fears, those fears which owned the influence of
21:59
Speaker 1: avarice far more than that of danger or of crime.
22:03
Speaker 1: He held the lantern over the hole and plunged his
22:06
Speaker 1: eyes into its depth. Safe, all safe by God, he exclaimed,
22:13
Speaker 1: as four or five canvas bags met his view. Then,
22:16
Speaker 1: in order to convince himself of the reality of the
22:19
Speaker 1: presence of his treasure, he opened the bags one after
22:22
Speaker 1: the other, and feasted his sight upon their glittering contents.
22:26
Speaker 1: It can hardly be Banks who has been here, he
22:29
Speaker 1: mused to himself, as he restored the bags to their
22:32
Speaker 1: place of concealment, and then rolled the stone back into
22:35
Speaker 1: its setting. Nothing could escape the keenness of his scent.
22:39
Speaker 1: He would have pulled up all the pavements sooner than
22:41
Speaker 1: have missed what he came to look for. And then too,
22:45
Speaker 1: He is not the man to leave the brick out
22:47
Speaker 1: of its place so as to show the secret of
22:50
Speaker 1: the stone trap to any other curious intruder that might
22:53
Speaker 1: find his way here. No, no, Master, Banks would pay
22:58
Speaker 1: a second and a third visit to this place if
23:00
Speaker 1: he felt sure of finding anything concealed here, and he
23:04
Speaker 1: would leave everything close and snug after each search. But
23:08
Speaker 1: some one has been here, unless and I might have
23:12
Speaker 1: done such a thing as to forget to replace the brick.
23:15
Speaker 1: I might have done so, and yet it is barely possible,
23:20
Speaker 1: continued Titkins, in deep perplexity, and almost as much alarmed
23:24
Speaker 1: as Robinson Cruser was upon discovering the print of a
23:27
Speaker 1: human foot upon the sand of his island. Then there
23:31
Speaker 1: is that damp mud too, and the door that was open,
23:35
Speaker 1: and the lock that has been tampered with. But suppose
23:38
Speaker 1: the mud came from my own shoes the last time
23:41
Speaker 1: I was here. The place is very damp, and it
23:44
Speaker 1: mayn't have got dry. It might also have been myself
23:48
Speaker 1: that left the door open. And as for the lock,
23:51
Speaker 1: it is an old one and may begin to work badly. Besides,
23:56
Speaker 1: I remember the last time I was here, I was
24:00
Speaker 1: in a deuce of a hurry. It was just before
24:03
Speaker 1: I went down to Banks to see him settle that
24:05
Speaker 1: job with Kate Wilmot. So, after all, my fears may
24:09
Speaker 1: be all idle and vain. However, I shall send for
24:13
Speaker 1: Banks presently when the buffer comes again, and our precious
24:17
Speaker 1: soon tell by his sneaking old face whether he has
24:20
Speaker 1: been here or not during my absence. Thus reasoning against
24:25
Speaker 1: the feasibility of his fears, as men often do in
24:29
Speaker 1: cases of doubt and uncertainty, and when they are anxious
24:32
Speaker 1: to persuade themselves of the groundlessness of their alarms. Titkins
24:36
Speaker 1: left the subterranean and returned to his chamber, where he
24:40
Speaker 1: immediately went to bed. But his fears were well founded.
24:44
Speaker 1: Some one had visited the subterranean during the hours while
24:47
Speaker 1: he himself was occupied in escaping from Colbarthfield's prison. That
24:52
Speaker 1: intruder was not, however, Banks, nor any one of the
24:56
Speaker 1: resurrection Man's accomplices in crime. End of Section ninety three.
25:02
Speaker 1: Recording by John Dimitri, east Haven, Connecticut,