Latest / Mysteries of London Vol. II / 98 - Mysteries of London Vol II by George W M Reynolds

Transcript

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

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: A welcome friend. As if struck by a flash of lightning,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Adeline felt insensible upon the stairs. When she awoke, she
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: found herself in bed, not in the chamber where the
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: murder of Lydia Hutchinson had been perpetrated. No, never since
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: that fatal night had Lady Ravensworre dared to sleep in
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: her boudoir. But she had adopted as her own apartment,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: one quite at the opposite end of the building. Yet vain, oh,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: passing vain where the endeavors of the murderess to escape
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: from the phantom of her victim. Had she fled to
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: the uppermost parts of the earth, had she buried herself
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: amidst the pathless forests of America, or made her abode
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: on the eternal ice of the Northern Pole, even thither
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: would the specter have pursued her. It was midnight when
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Lady Ravensworth awoke in her chamber, after having fainted upon
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: the stairs. An ejaculation of terror escaped her lips, for
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: she instantly recollected all that had passed. The curtains were
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: immediately drawn aside, and a charming female countenance, but totally
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: unknown to Adeleine beamed upon her. Tranquilize yourself, lady, said
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: the stranger. It is a friend who watches by your side,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: A friend, repeated Adeleine, with a profound sigh. Have I
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: indeed a friend? Oh? No, no, I am surrounded by enemies,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: And covering her face with her hands, she burst into
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: an agony of tears. Pray, compose yourself, lady, Ravensworth, said
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: the stranger, in so sweet a musical tone that it
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: carried to the heart conviction of friendly intentions. And who
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: are you by that thus feel an interest in one?
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: So woe begone, as I asked Adeleine, relieved by her tears,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: then she turned her still streaming eyes towards the stranger,
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: who spoke in so kind, so soothing, so convincing a manner,
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: And she beheld by the mellowed light of the lamps
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: that burnt in the chamber, a female of lovely person
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: beclad in deep black and wearing the peculiar cap which
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: bespeaks the widow. The respectability of this garb, combined with
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: the softness of the lady's tone and manner, and the
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: sweet amiability of her fine countenance to produce the most
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: favorable oppression upon the wretched Adeline, wretched alike through her
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: own misdeeds and those of others. You ask me who
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: I am, as answered the stranger, rather seek to know
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: wherefore I am? Here? Compose yourself, and I will explain
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: the latter mystery in a few words. This evening, I
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: received the tidings from an authority which I cannot doubt,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: but which I dare not name, of a fearful conspiracy
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: that is in progress against you, and not only against you,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: but I fear also against your child. Oh heavens, I
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: begin to understand it all, shrieked Lady Ravensworth, the presence
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: of Gilbert Vernon and Anthony Tidkins in that mansion, and
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: evidently leagued together, recurring in her mind. But how did
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: you hear this? How did you learn the terrible tidings
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: which other circumstances proclaim so fatally to be alas too true? Lady?
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Ask me? Not for my authority? Was the reply? I
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: to reveal it, I should incur the chance of ruining
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: a source of intelligence which may enable me to frustrate
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: other diabolical schemes that might be conceived, even as I
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: hope to baffle the one that is now in progress
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: against yourself. You are no doubt watched by enemies of
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: a desperate character, one of whom has everything to gain
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: by the death of your child. Oh you allude to
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Gilbert Vernon, my brother in law, exclaimed Adeline. He is
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: already in this house, accompanied by his valet, who she
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: checked herself air. She uttered another word that might have
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: led her new friend to marvel how she could possibly
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: have obtained any previous insight into the characters of that
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: attendant upon her brother in law and that valet. By
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: all I have heard said, the strange lady is a
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: man of the most fiendlike soul, the most remorseless disposition,
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: a man capable of every atrocity, every crime, who is
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: so ready to accomplish any enormity for gain, that were
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: there another savior to betray, he would become another Judas.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Oh what a picture you are drawing, cried Lady Ravensworth
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: with a cold shudder, for she knew how much of
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: that appalling description was true. It is not to intimidate
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: you that I am thus candid, was the reply, but
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: simply to convince you in what danger you were placed,
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: and how deeply. You need the assistance of a sincere friend.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: And that friend, said Adeline, is myself, answered the stranger.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: It is true. I am but a woman, a poor,
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: weak woman, as the lords of the creation style our sex.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: But I possess the heart to aid you, the spirit
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: to defend you, and the courage to dare every peril
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: in your behalf excellent woman. Heaven must have sent you
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: to me, cried Adeline, reassured by these words, and as
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: she spoke, she caught her new friend's hand and pressed
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: it enthusiastically to her lips. But your name. Tell me
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: your name that I may address you in terms of affection,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: and hereafter speak of you in those of gratitude. Call
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: me by any name you will, was the reply. But
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: ask me no more concerning myself in aiding you, I
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: must impose the condition upon which I offered to befriend you.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: I have no selfish motive. My own social position places
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: me above all interested views. No, through the purest feelings
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: of humanity, have as sought you. Listen to me A
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: few moments in patience this evening, I heard the principal
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: details of the plot contrived against your peace. I learned
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: enough to prove that you have enemies capable of the
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: very worst deeds to secure their own ends. I resolved
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: upon hastening to your aid of offering myself as your companion,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: your friend until the peril be averted. I arrived at
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Ravensworth Hall at about nine o'clock this evening and requested
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: an interview with you. I was told that you had
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: just been seized with a fit and conveyed to your chamber.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: I replied that I was well known to you, that
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: I had even come in pursuance of an imitation received
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: from you, and that my presence was most opportune since
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: you were so subtly taken ill. Your lady's maid was summoned,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: and in consequence of my representations, I was admitted to
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: your chamber. You had partially recovered and had sunk into
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: a sound sleep. I assured the maid that she need
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: not remain with you, as I would watch by your side.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: This is the tale I have told, an innocent falsehood
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: to ensure a good aim. If you wish me to
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: remain with you, will be for you to repeat to
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: your servants the same story of previous acquaintance. This will
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: be necessary to account to Vernon for my presence in
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: the mansion, and for the terms of inseparable friendship on
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: which we must appear to be together. For from this
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: night I shall not lose sight of yourself or your
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: child until the danger that threatens that innocent infant be averted.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: As for my name, I dare not allow it to
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: be known here, for Vernon is acquainted with a certain
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: individual to whom that name is not strange, and who
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: were he to learn that I am here, would perhaps
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: suspect that I had some ulterior motive. Indeed, it was
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: a conversation between your brother in law and that individual
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: to whom I allude, which was overheard by a person
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: devoted to my interests, and which discourse betrayed enough to
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: show the one terrible deed had already been committed by Vernon,
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: and that he was meditating another one terrible deed has
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: already been committed, explained Adeline in affright to What can
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: you allude alas, replied Eliza Sidney, for she was the
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: generous hearted unknown. Did the lamentable death of Lord Raven's
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: Worth excite no suspicion in your mind? Oh now I
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: see it all, cried Adeline, clasping her hands together and
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: speaking with hysterical vehemence. Gilbert Vernon was in England, and
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: it was his voice that I heard in the ruins.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: And it was he who sent the fatal and poisoned
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: weed which carried my husband to the tomb. Monster, Monster,
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: that you are, Gilbert Vernon. And she sang back, exhausted
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: upon the pillow from which she had raised herself. As
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: she screamed forth that last accusation. Several minutes elapsed. Ere
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: she grew calm enough to explain to Eliza the meaning
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: of her explanation relative to the voice and the ruins.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: You see how well arranged have been all Vernon's plans,
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: observed Eliza. For in the conversation with the individual to
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: whom I have already alluded, he admitted that he had
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: been some time in England. Oh, there can be no
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: doubt that he was awaiting the effect of the poisoned weed.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: For I read in the newspapers the account of your
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: husband's strange and mysterious death, after which a few months
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: of atrophy, and which fatal event was alleged to have
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: been hastened by his passionate attachment to a peculiar oriental tobacco.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: It is now for you to remain retired and tranquil,
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: to keep your child constantly with you, and to allow
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: me to act as I shall think fit. In a
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: short time, I hope to be enabled to collect a
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: chain of evidence that may establish Vernon's guilt. At present
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: there is strong suspicion, but no proof that he caused
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: the death of his brother. But I will not stay
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: here in this lonely house, cried Adeline. I will seek
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: safety with my father. And you think that change of
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: dwelling will screen your child from the intrigues, the infernal
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: intries and plots of a man who found means while
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: at a distance to murder his brother with a fatal poison,
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: demanded Eliza. No, he would accomplish his purpose wherever you
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: might conceal the air of Ravensworth. But if we can
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: obtain proofs of his past crime or of his present intention,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: if we can so contrive that he may believe him
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: within the reach of justice, then and only then will
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: there be safety for your child. If you seek refuge
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: with your relatives, he will see that he is suspected,
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: and his schemes will only be prosecuted with the more caution,
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: I am in your hands. I will follow your advice
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: in all things, said Adeline. But in the name of Heaven,
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: devise means to bring these dangers of perplexities to a
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: speedy issue. Trust to me, Lady Ravensworth, returned Eliza. In
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: the first place, is there still left in the house
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: any of that oriental weed whose effects were so fatal
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: upon your husband? There is, answered Adeline. And I think
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: I divine your motive for asking the question. You would
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: have the tobacco analyzed and tested by a skillful chemist.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: That stuff was taken shortly after my lamented husband's death,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: by the desire of mister Graham, a medical gentleman who
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: attended him in his last moments. Not that any suspicion
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: against Gilbert Vernon had then arisen. No, it was curiosity
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: and a love of science which prompted mister Graham thus
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: to act. And the result, said Eliza, interrogatively, no trace
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: of a deleitarious substance could be discovered, was the answer.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: Providence will open another road to discovery of that man's guilt,
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: observed Eliza. But you must now compose yourself to sleep
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: the night is far advanced, and you need rest. Rest. Oh,
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: not for me, said Adeline with a dreadful shudder, as
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: she thought of the murdered Lyadia Hutchinson. But Eliza Sidney
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: did not comprehend that Lady Ravensworth had any source of
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: affliction save the machinations of her enemies. In the morning,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: Eliza wro loving a letter to Filippo d'orcenni Greenwood's Valet
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: Ravensworth Hall, April sixteenth, eighteen forty one. You will see
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: by the superscription that I am on the spot where
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: danger menace is an innocent babe of a month old.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: Vernon and Anthony named Tidkins are both here. But Lady
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: Ravensworth has placed herself entirely under my guidance. I wish
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: you to undertake the three following commissions as speedily as possible.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: The first is to form an acquaintance with the landlady
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: of the house in Stamford Street where Gilbert Vernon lodged,
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: and endeavored to glean from her not only how long
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: he lived in her dwelling, but any other particulars concerning him.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: She may be willing to communicate. This task you must
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: execute with great precaution, so that in case Vernon should
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: call upon her, she may not inform him that you
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: have actually sought information at her hands. Should she be
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: skillfully drawn into gossiping discourse upon the subject, she would
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: not mention to Vernon that she had breathed a word
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: in connection with him or his affairs. In the second place,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: she must endeavor to discover the abode of the beautiful
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: Georgian Malca town, whom, as you informed me some months
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: ago go shortly after my arrival in England, mister Greenwood
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: made over to his friend, the honorable Major Dapper. In
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: the third place, you must find some trusty person who
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: will immediately set off for Beiru. Fortunately, an extra overland
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: mail departs tomorrow evening. The instructions of the individual whom
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: you may thus employer contained in the enclosed letter. Doubtless,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: amongst the few castles to callans who are now resident
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: in London, you are acquainted with one who will undertake
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: this mission for the expenses of which I've forwarded you
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: a check upon my bankers. You can write to me
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: to report the progress of these three commissions. End of
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: Section ninety eight