 Section 97 of Mysteries of London, Volume 4. Mysteries of London, Volume 4 by George W. M. Reynolds, Mr. Heathcote and his clerk. It was five o'clock in the morning of the day after the interview described in the last chapter, and Mr. Heathcote was seated at the writing table in his private office. He was busily occupied with papers for his was a disposition that could not endure idleness even when vexed and annoyed as he was at present it was impossible for him to remain inactive. Had he been an author he would have eclipsed Walter Scott or Paul de Keck in the number of his works. There was a deep gloom upon his brow and a sinister light in his restless eyes as he bent over the parchment deeds which he was inspecting and from time to time he cast an anxious glance towards the door. At length he rang the bell and the junior clerk answered the summons. Has not Mr. Green made his appearance yet? demanded the lawyer with an emphasis on the last word. No, sir, he has not was the reply given timidly for the young man beheld both the gloom on the brow and the gleaming in the eye. Not yet ejaculated Heathcote fiercely and frowning in his own peculiar fashion at the same time, nor sent either he added interrogatively. No, sir, responded the junior clerk. This is strange, very strange, murmured the lawyer. He can't be ill. Poor devils like him cannot afford to be unwell. But if he were, if he did happen to be so indisposed that he couldn't shut his eyes to the fact he would have sent word you know where he lives. Demanded Mr. Heathcote abruptly addressing himself to the young man. Yes, sir, was the answer. Then go to his lodgings directly, exclaimed the lawyer in an imperious tone, and if you find him at home, tell him that I am very angry indeed at his absence. Should he be ill, you must desire him to get out of bed, take a cab, and come to me at once to give an account of his conduct. To Guineas a week indeed to a fellow who takes it into his head to be ill. And with this humane reflection Mr. Heathcote was about to resume his work while the young clerk was turning towards the door when Mr. Green suddenly made his appearance. Oh, you are come at last sir, are you? cried the lawyer, glancing up at the clock. A quarter past five, and the office hours are from nine till six. What deduce does this mean, sir? I had a little business to transact, sir, answered the head clerk closing the door by which the junior functionary had just evaporated. A little business repeated Mr. Heathcote staring at the man in unfaigned amazement for he could not possibly conceive how Mr. Green should have any affairs of his own to attend to. Yes, sir, a little business returned the head clerk, who though now feeling comparatively independent of his master, could not shake off an obsequiousness of manner which had become habitual to him. Is it strange, sir, that for once in a way I should have taken the holiday which was certain to be refused if solicited beforehand? Have you been drinking, Mr. Green, or are you mad to talk to me in this style? Demanded Heathcote surveying his clerk with more than usual attention. I've had nothing to drink, sir, beyond a single glass of sherry, and I beg to inform you that I am not crazy, answered the head clerk growing a trifle bolder. A glass of sherry, repeated Heathcote, again evincing the most unfaigned astonishment. How is it possible, sir, that you can indulge in such extravagances and pay for them honestly? A few days ago you ventured to appear before me in a new suit of clothes with the glass actually on them, whereas your regular office suit had not been threadbare more than two years. Let me tell you, sir, that I take note of these things. I observe the most minute symptoms of change in a man's character or habits, and no one can deceive me, Mr. Green. No one can deceive me, repeated the lawyer, looking hard at the individual whom he thus addressed as much as to say that he had suspected something wrong and was now certain of it. Well, sir, and who has attempted to deceive you, asked Green, in a bolder tone, than had ever yet characterized his language when in the presence of his hitherto dreaded master, who has attempted to deceive me, both cipherated Heathcote, his lips becoming white and quivering with rage. You, sir, you have made the endeavor, you are making it now, but it will not do, Mr. Green, it will not do. Take care of yourself, new suits of clothes, sherry, a day's absence without leave, and even without the humble apology that should mark your return. All this is suspicious, sir, very suspicious. Let me tell you, suspicious of what demanded the head clerk approaching Mr. Heathcote's desk and looking steadily across it at that gentleman, that you were either bribed in my brother's affair or that you have robbed me, was the immediate answer. You are a liar, sir, a deliberate liar, exclaimed Green, now beginning to experience the first feelings of exaltation at the independence which he was enabled to assert. The lawyer could make no reply, he was amazed, bewildered, stupefied. Yes, sir, continue, Green, his voice now losing all its obsequiousness and his manner rising completely above servility. You are a liar, if you say that I robbed you, where was the chance, even if I had possessed the inclination of pilfering even a single farthing. You know that you reckon up the office money to the very last penny, and that if I tell you how a box of Lucifers or a piece of tape or any other trifling article was required, you were always sure to say we were very extravagant in that front office. These are truths, sir, and therefore how dare you pretend to believe in the possibility of my robbing you. Mr. Green, Mr. Green, exclaimed Heathcote, absolutely frightened at his head clerk's manner. What is the cause of all this excitement? The lawyer was frightened, we say, because his conscience told him that something had occurred to place Mr. Green upon a more independent footing with regard to him and the greater became such independence on the part of one who had long been his tool and instrument, the less secure was the lawyer himself in his own position. In fact, when at wretched being who had long groveled in the dust at his feet, suddenly started up and dared to look him in the face, it was a sign that the fabric of despotism was shaken and was tottering to its fall. Mr. Heathcote felt all this and he trembled for a moment, trembled with a cold and death-like shudder as he beheld his clerk's eyes glaring savagely at him and it was under the influence of this sensation that he uttered the words which, by proving his own weakness, gave Green additional courage. You asked what is the cause of all this excitement? exclaimed the latter and yet only a few minutes have elapsed since you dared to accuse me of having robbed you. A man who has committed a forgery may very well be suspected of theft returned Heathcote, who, having recovered his presence of mind, answered with his usual brutality of manner. And what may you not be accused of then? demanded Green, scarcely able to restrain himself from flying like a tiger-cat at his master for what have you not committed. By heaven, Mr. Green, this shall last no longer. Ejaculated Heathcote, starting from his seat. You are drunk, sir. You have been drinking, I tell you. Come, be reasonable, he continued, almost in a coaxing tone. Go home quietly and be here early in the morning to make an apology for your present bad conduct. I promise to forgive you. Forgive me, repeated Green, forgive me. He exclaimed again with a chuckling laugh which did Mr. Heathcote harm to hear it. I have done nothing, sir, that needs forgiveness. And if I was to kick you thrice around this room where you have tyrannized over me for twelve years, it would only be paying back up my new portion of all I owe you. Mr. Green, you will provoke me to do something desperate. Retorted Heathcote in a low, thick tone as he approached his head clerk to read in that individual's countenance the solution of his present enigmatic whole conduct. You will provoke me, I say, and then you will be sorry for your rashness. Consider, reflect in another month's time. The thousand pounds must positively be forthcoming. Will you replace it for me? Demanded Green abruptly. You know what I've always said? Yes. And I now know likewise what you have always meant. Interrupted Green, guarding a look full of malignant hate and savage spite at the lawyer for twelve long years, sir. I've been your slave, your vile and abject slave. I was a criminal. It is true when I first came to you. For I had committed that forgery which you detected, and which placed me in your power. But I had still the feelings of a man, whereas you soon imbued me with such ideas and reduced me to such a miserable state of servitude that I have wept bitter, bitter tears of the fault of my own deep degradation. I could have lied for you. I could have committed perjury for you. I could have performed all the meannesses and condescended to do all the vile and low trickery which form part and parcel of your business. But when I found myself used as a mere tool and instrument and treated like a spaniel without ever having a single kind word uttered to cheer me beneath a yoke of crushing despotism, you have had two guineas a week paid with scrupulous regularity interposed teeth coat, oof from the tenor of the observations which Green had just made, began to fancy that he was only excited by liquor to make vague and general complaints, but that he was still as much in his power as ever. Two guineas a week repeated the man, indignantly you are always dinning that fact in my ears, but heaven knows that where my salary is six times as much it would not repay me for all the cruelty I've endured at your hands nor for all that one is obliged to see and go through while in your employment. I had some tender feelings once, but they have long ago been stifled by the horrible spectacles of woe and misery which have been forced upon my sight and which have sprung from your detestable covetousness. I have seen children starving, mothers weeping over their dying babes while the fathers and husbands have been languishing in jail yes in the debtor's jail where you have thrown them and where some of them have died cursing the name of James Heathcoat yes sir I've seen all this and what is more I and worse too far worse I've been an involuntary instrument as your clerk in causing much of that awful misery. The mere thought of which almost drives me mad talk of the black turpitude of murdering with a dagger or a pistol while it is a mercy to the slow lingering piecemeal murders which you and men of your stamp are constantly perpetrating for as true as there is a God in heaven there are more slow and cold blooded murders committed in one year by a certain class of attorneys than are recorded in the annals of Nuget for a whole century. Heathcoat's fears had all returned by rapid degrees as his head clerk turning full upon him leveled at his head the terrible charges summed up in the preceding speech but when these last words fell upon his ear he grew ghastly pale and staggering back a few paces sank into his chair for a new house sternly true was the appalling accusation ah well may your eyes glare upon me in horror resume green but it is high time that you should hear a few home truths even though they come from such lips as mine for you doubtless think that it is all very fine to issue a writ refuse delay decline everything in the shape of compromise and then seize upon the goods of your victim or clap him into jail but it is we who sit in the outer office we clerks who can best penetrate into the effects of such a heartless course when we see the door open and the miserable wretch come in with care as legibly written on his countenance as if it were printed in letters on a piece of paper and when he comes crawling up to our desk as if his utter self abasement would be so pleasing to us clerks as to induce us to say a good word in his behalf to you then when he asks in a tone of anguish which is ready to burst forth into a flood of tears do you think it likely that Mr. Heathcoat will give me time it is then I say that the real feelings of such poor wretches transpire and the murderous effects of the harsh proceedings adopted by lawyers of your stamp become painfully apparent to what is all this to lead Mr. Green demanded Heathcoat in a low and subdued tone for it struck him that such a long address could only be meant to herald some evil tidings to which his clerk in the refinement of vindictive cruelty sought to impart a more vivid poignancy by prefatory delays to what is all this to lead repeated green wide to your utter confusion black-hearted old man that you are think of the conversation that took place between us a few days ago did I not then tell you that there were many deaths to be laid to your door and I was right you sent off Thompson to prison his wife and child perished and he cut his throat you are the murderer of those three human beings the man Beale whom you likewise threw into White Cross Street died in the infirmary of that jail died of a broken heart sir and you were his murderer hundreds and hundreds of deaths have you caused in the same way hundreds and hundreds of legal murders Mr. Green gasped the lawyer writhing as if he were a dwarf in the grasp of a giant then wondering why he should thus put up with the insolence of his clerk and falling back upon the belief that the man could not possibly conduct himself in such a way unless he were under the influence of liquor he suddenly started from his seat exclaiming by heaven sir you've gone so far that all hope forgiveness on my part is impossible I care nothing for your pardon and shall not even condescend to solicit it replied Mr. Green in a tone of complete and unmistakable defiance I'm going to leave you at once leave me ejaculated Heathcote who had hitherto believed it to be impossible that his clerk could throw off the chains of servitude enthralled him which had been so firmly riveted upon him leave me he repeated yes oh yes he added his countenance assuming an expression of the most albolic sardinism yes you shall indeed leave me but it will be to change your quarters for a cell in Nugget perhaps you will be the first to repair the vidder set green with a chuckle that seemed to grate upon the lawyer's ears like the sound emitted by the process of sharpening the teeth of a saw in less than two hours Mr. Green, Clarence Villiers shall be made acquainted with the fact that the thousand pounds have long ceased to be in the bank of England exclaimed Heathcote the thousand pounds are there sir yes there at this very minute answered Green in a tone of assurance which convinced Heathcote that the man was speaking the truth and what is more sir, Mr. Villiers knows all and has forgiven all this morning did I replace the money this afternoon did I repair to Brompton to throw myself at the feet of Mr. Villiers confess everything and implore his pardon oh sir he is a generous man and he forgave me you have been guilty of a terrible breach of trust nay a heinous crime Mr. Green he said but you have atoned for your turpitude it is our duty in this world to forgive where true contrition is manifested and I will take care to hold you harmless in this case should it ever transpire that the money had been sold out I wept while I thanked him and I said but I have a bitter enemy who is acquainted with the whole transaction what can be done to save me from disgrace should he inform against me he cannot prove that you forged my name respondent Villiers I alone can prove that in under present circumstances I would not for worlds inflict an injury upon you I again thanked him and took my leave you now perceive Mr. Heathcote that so far from being in your power you are entirely in mine the other day you told me that you would crush me as if I were a worm that you would send me to Nugget that you would abandon me to my fate and that you would even help to have me shipped for eternal exile I thank you for all your kind intentions sir added green in a tone of bitter satire and I mean to show my gratitude by exposing you and your villainy to the utmost of my ability and what injury can you do me reptile exclaimed Heathcote quivering with rage what injury repeated green I can ruin you he added speaking loudly and triumphantly oh I am acquainted with far more of your dark transactions and nefarious schemes than you can possibly imagine the deeds that are contained therein he added pointing to the Japan 10 boxes are not sealed books to me I have read them all yes all and have gleaned enough information to enable me to bring upon you such a host of ruined and defrauded clients that you would never dare to face them even for a moment you may turn pale as death and your eyes may glare with rage but it is not the less true that I hold you in my power if you destroy those deeds you then annihilate the only documents which prove your title to the vast property which you have accumulated if you do not destroy them you leave in existence the dammy evidences of your villainy at this very moment there are old men and old women struggling on in the bitterest penury and cursing the life from which they have not the moral courage to fly through the medium of suicide some of them in the workhouse others dependent on the bounty relatives and all these have been plunged into this appalling misery by you but every step you took to smash and ensnare them every scheme you devised to get them completely into your power so that you might wrench from them the last acre of their lands and the last guinea of their fortunes all all has been illegal fraudulent extortionate vile oh it will alone prove a fine harvest for me when I again take out my certificate to practice as an attorney which I am about to do it will be a splendid commencement I say to take up the causes persons and compel you to render an account to your ruined clients this sir is what I am about to do and now it shall be war between us war to the very night and there many months have elapsed you will bitterly repent your conduct to one who only asked for a little kindness in return for his faithful far too faithful services having thus spoken Mr. Green abruptly quitted the office leaving James Heathcote in a state of mind not even to be a criminal about to ascend the steps of the scaffold intersection 97 section 98 of mysteries of London volume 4 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information nor to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org mysteries of London volume 4 by George W. M. Reynolds Jack Riley and vitriol Bob Mr. Green had so well managed matters in respect to the bank notes that in the course of a few hours he had contrived to obtain cash for about 12,000 pounds worth and the doctor was so delighted at his success that he had testified his satisfaction by making him a present of a couple of thousand for himself being now a rich man Mr. Riley resolved to quit his lodgings in RuPaul street and take superior apartments in a better neighborhood than it struck him as he was walking leisurely along in the city after having parted from Green that it would be far more agreeable to become the possessor of a nice little cottage in a pleasant suburb and while this idea was uppermost in his mind he happened to observe in the window of a house agent an announcement to the effect that several elegant and desirable villas were to be let on lease or sold in the most delightful part of Pentonville the doctor entered the office obtained a card to view the premises thus advertised and taking a cab proceeded straight to the suburb indicated having nothing particular to do Jack Riley spent several hours in inspecting the villas and at length fixed upon one which he resolved to purchase the individual who had built the houses on speculation and who was compelled to dispose of one on any terms before he could possibly finish another resided close at hand and a bargain being speedily concluded a particular hour on the following day was agreed upon as the time for a final settlement Jack Riley having proceeded thus far in his arrangements entered a public house which had lately been built on an eminence within a quarter of a mile of the new model prison and there he ordered some dinner for it was now four o'clock in the afternoon the repast over he took a seat at an open window which commanded a view of Copenhagen fields and all the neighboring district and with his pipe and some hot brand in water he was enjoying himself to his heart's content when he was suddenly startled by the appearance of a vitriol bath who happened to pass that way though a brave, fearless and desperate man the doctor nevertheless uttered an ejaculation of mingle surprise and annoyance and his enemy who would not have otherwise perceived him instantly glanced towards the window there looks met and a diabolical scowl distorted the countenance of vitriol Bob while Jack Riley immediately recovering his presence of mind surveyed the miscreant with cool sense vitriol Bob appeared to hesitate for a moment what course to pursue then suddenly making up his mind he entered the public room where the doctor was seated taking a chair at another table he rang the bell and ordered some spirits and water in payment for which he threw down a sovereign receiving the change when the waiter had disappeared and the two villains were alone together vitriol Bob looked maliciously at Jack Riley as much as to say you see I am not without money and then he glanced complacently at the new suit of black which he had on for it change had taken place in vitriol Bob's appearance and he seemed to be in high feather as well as his enemy the doctor his huge black whiskers had been trimmed, oiled and curled a process that did not however materially mitigate the hang dog expression of his countenance for his small reptile eyes still glared ferociously from beneath his thick overhanging brows his lips were as usual of livid hue and his broken nose positively appeared more flat on his face than ever your health Jack said that Miss Grant nodding with a kind of malignant familiarity as he raised the steaming glass to his lips thank you kindly Bob returned the doctor in a tone of mock civility now that we have met at last old feller we won't part again in a hurry observed vitriol Bob after a pause during which he lighted a cigar just as you choose my tulip said Riley calmly puffing away and contemplating the thin blueish vapor which curled lazily from the bowl of his pipe out of the window you and I have a score to settle you Jack continued vitriol Bob and it seems as if the devil had thrown us in each other's way this evening on purpose to regulate our accounts oh that's the construction you put upon it a said the doctor well just as you like you know that you used me shameful in that Stanford street business to the day proceeded vitriol Bob it was only what you deserve for the trick you played me old fellow retorted the doctor but with amazing coolness alike of tone and manner I don't deny that I built you out of a part of your regulars in the matter alluded to said Bob but it didn't deserve such a return as you give to me in the haunted house thank God I had my revenge on the old woman other night yes she's disposed of observe Jack and I can't forgive you for Bob even if you wish just to be friends she was a fine old creature and I had an affection for her because she was the ugliest wretch I ever saw in the shape of a woman and her spirit was admirable I meant the blow for you it's not vitriol Bob but it's just as well now that the bottle broke over her since you and me have met again have you got another bottle in your pocket Bob demanded the doctor because if we are to have a tuzzle for it before we part I may as well put myself on as equal terms with you as possible I shan't take no unfair advantage Jack he slapped his hands against the skirts of his coat his breeches pockets and his breast to convince his antagonist that he had no bottle about his person there's nothing like fair play Bob return the doctor and therefore if you like to feel about me to convince yourself that I have no firearms you're welcome I'll take your word for it Jack responded vitriol Bob but I suppose you have got a clasp knife I never go without one was the answer and it's as sharp as a razor so was mine observed the other miscreant and then there was a long pause during which the two men contemplated each other with the calmness and serenity that would have prevented even the most acute observer from noticing the malignant light that gleamed in the depths of their eyes and while the one continued to puff his pipe in a leisurely manner the other smoked his cigar with equal ease so that they appeared to be two friends enjoying themselves in a pleasant way in the cool of the evening I suppose I interrupted some sport to the night Jack said vitriol Bob at length breaking the silence the old woman wasn't out together at that hour for no think particularly in such a neighborhood yes we were going to do a little business together observed the doctor you first twigged me in Sloan Street I saw you I knowed you did but you didn't suspect that I followed you rather said Jack Riley at least I thought it very probable you were aware that the old woman's dead I suppose I said as much just now was in the papers remarked Jack Riley yes I read it in the advertiser responded vitriol Bob there was another pause during which the two miscreants had their glasses replenished the doctor also refilled his pipe and the other lighted a second cigar we'll make ourselves comfortable Jack said vitriol Bob as long as you like and whenever you feel disposed to go mind that I shall be harder you well I can't prevent that observed the doctor you have a right to walk which way you choose in this free country thank you for giving me the information said Bob in a satirical tone but of course I mean to stick to you too so we read of my company that you must come to a last struggle either to shake me off altogether or perish yourself for mind if I catch you as steep Jack I shall stick my clasp knife into you up to the hat I'm obliged you for letting me know your kind intentions beforehand observed the doctor because I shall adopt precisely the same mode of warfare now then we understand each other said vitriol Bob and that's the comfort but it's a great pity that two such fine fellows as you and me should be at loggerheads how some ever it can't be helped and a reconcilment or whatever they call it is impossible your life or mine Jack that's the question to be decided now depend upon it oh fellow that you'll be a croaker before morning return the doctor as he raised his glass to his lips no it's you that'll be a stiffen my boy was the pleasant retort time must show remember that it's no infant you'll have to deal with I should have beat you that night in the haunted house Jack if the old woman hadn't come to your assistance observed vitriol Bob without low but diabolical chuckle yes but it was because I slipped over something old fellow was the answer and I shall take care to keep more steady on my pins next time depend upon it that when the death struggle does calm Jack the fuss that slips will be the dead and did you ever hear of the Kentucky and fashion of dealing with an enemy demanded vitriol Bob never was the reply but there say it's something damnable as bad perhaps as breaking a vitriol bottle over a person's face or else you wouldn't know anything about it you're right there Jack it's gouging that I mean and what's gouging pray tearing a fellow's eye out of its socket answered vitriol Bob one can play at that game as well as another observe the doctor totally unmoved by the horrid nature of the conversation to be sure and we shall sooner or later see who beats at it another pause succeeded this last remark of vitriol Bob and again did the two men sit contemplating each his enemy with a composure that was unnatural and dreadful to a degree under the circumstances time wore on in this manner their glasses were frequently replenished and yet the liquor appeared not to produce the least effect upon them but cool collected and self possessed they sat measuring each others form and calculating its strength until darkness and sensibly stole upon them the waiter then entered to light the gas and several frequenters of the house began to drop in to take their evenings allowance of alcoholic drink and fine tobacco at length Jack Riley rose and looking hard at his enemies said I am going now very well returned to true Bob I'll keep you company there was nothing in these observations to excite either the curiosity or the suspicions of the other persons in the public house parlor nevertheless those words had a terrible significance for the two men that had exchanged them the doctor walked leisurely out of the room first and vitriol Bob followed him but the instant they were outside the premises the former turned abruptly round upon his enemy saying come let us proceed abreast I don't mean to give you a chance of stabbing me from behind just as you like observed vitriol Bob and he placed himself at the doctor's end leaving an interval of about a couple of feet between them in this manner they walked on in silence each occupied with his own peculiar reflections vitriol Bob was intent only on vengeance dread full complete and diabolical vengeance and though he seemed to be looking straightforward he was nevertheless watching his companion with the side long glances of his reptile like eyes Jack Riley was calculating in his mind what course he should adopt he was naturally as brave as a lion but he did not perceive any advantage in risking his life in a struggle that even where he victorious would produce neither profit nor glory the only possible good that could result to him from a triumphant issue of the quarrel the removal of a bitter inveterate and determined enemy nevertheless the doctor had most potent reasons to induce him to avoid this deadly encounter he had just obtained a vast sum of money and had the means of realizing five times as much the world therefore had suddenly assumed a smiling aspect in his eyes he had already resolved to abandon his nefarious pursuits which indeed were no longer necessary and settled down quietly in the cottage for the purchase of which he had that day concluded a bargain and all these prospects were to be staked on the hazard of a die risked fearfully at the bidding of the miscreant who was walking by his side at one moment the doctor seriously thought of giving his companion into charge to the first core of policemen whom they might encounter for this was the hour when the little detachments of constables went about relieving their comrades on duty but that idea was abandoned almost as soon as formed in as much as Jack Riley had all his money about him and he knew that if he handed vitriol Bob over to the police as the murderer of Torrens or of Mrs. Mortimer the miscreant would unhesitatingly turn round with some charge at least place him the doctor in temporary restraint and lead to an examination of his person. Jack Riley therefore came to the determination of pushing on into the heart of London while knowing that vitriol Bob's object was not to assail him in any neighborhood where the contest was likely to be observed and prevented but to drive him by dint of persecution dogging and a hateful companionship into the open country where through very desperation the doctor should make up his mind to settle the matter decisively by a struggle on equal terms. Feeling convinced that this was his enemies purpose Jack Riley resolved either to weary him out or give him the slip if possible or else to seize an opportunity of stabbing him suddenly in some place where an immediate escape was practicable we must again observe it was through no cowardice that the doctor was desirous of avoiding a conflict from which only one could possibly depart alive but he had so many inducements to cling to existence that he sought no advantage in risking them all in a quarrel where the personal animosity was entirely on the other side in the course of half an hour they arrived in the vicinity of the angel at Islington and Jack Riley now breaking the silence which had lasted since they quitted the public house at Pentonville said this walking makes one thirsty let's have some beer willingly answered vitriol Bob and will drink out of the same pot to make people believe we're friends they accordingly entered a gin shop and shared a pot of porter at the bar after which they resumed their walk passing down the city road they kept abreast and preserved a deep silence each watching the movements of the other the doctor in the hope of being able to give his companion a sudden thrust with his knife and vitriol Bob for the purpose of preventing the escape of his enemy it was ten o'clock when they came within sight of the Bank of England and as they passed under its solid wall Jack Riley wondered whether he should be alive to keep an appointment which he had with green next morning in order to have some more of his notes changed by that individual all the money in that their place old fellow won't save one or other of us from death before many hours has gone by observe vitriol Bob in a low and ferocious tone you must make the best use of your time then return Jack since you've got a presentiment that it's so near know it's you that had better say your prayers retorted to the miscreant but what's the use of keeping both your hands in your pockets if you think you'll be able to draw out your knife suddenly and give me a poke under the ribs you're uncommonly mistaken I wasn't dreaming of such a thing answer Jack Riley for the first time showing a slight degree of confusion in his manner it's false old fellow said vitriol Bob you've got the class knife open in your pocket I know you have the gas lights is strong enough to enable a sharp-sided chop like me to twig all that goes on it's you that speaks false returned Jack Riley still keeping his hands in his pockets and again relapsing into silence they pursued their way passing in front of the exchange and up corn hill they turned into birch and lane their Jack Riley hesitated for an instant which way to proceed but suddenly recollecting that in a little passage to the left there was a public house called the Bengal arms he said there's a crib here where they sell capital ale that's how have some cried vitriol Bob you go on fuss the places to gnar for us both know you go first of the doctor in this way then responded vitriol Bob and stepping nimbly in front of his companion he turned round and walked backwards along the passage until it suddenly grew wider opposite the door of the Bengal arms Jack Riley laughed at this maneuver but he was in reality disappointed for had vitriol Bob acted with less precaution he would have assuredly received the whole length of the doctor's formidable knife in his back there he had proceeded halfway up the passage we'll go into the parlor here said Jack and have some bread and cheese I'm hungry so am I observed vitriol Bob in a dry laconic tone which denoted the determination that inspired the man's mind a determination never to part from his companion until one of them should be no more it was something awful something frightfully revolting and hideously appalling in the circumstance of those two miscreants thus wandering about together in a manner that appeared amicable enough to all who beheld them two wretches possessing the hearts of fiends and the external ugliness of monsters to incarnate demons of any turpitude however black the die end of section 98 section 99 of mysteries of London volume 4 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org mysteries of London volume 4 by George W. M. Reynolds the Bengal arms renewed wanderings the parlor at the Bengal arms is or at least was at the time where of we are writing a long low dingy room very dark in the daytime and indifferently lighted in the evening it is always filled with a motley assembly of guests and Ayle is the beverage most in request while to one who indulges in a cigar at least 10 patronized the unaffected enjoyment of the clay pipe on the present occasion the company was numerous the tobacco smoke hung like a dense mist in the place the gas burners showing dimly through the pestiferous haze and the heat was intense Jack Riley and vitriol Bob contrived to find room at one of the tables and a slip shot waiter supplied them in due time with a pot of Ayle and bread and cheese to the discussion of which they addressed themselves in a manner affording not the slightest suspicion of the deadly enmity which existed between them while they were thus engaged they had an opportunity of listening to the conversation that was taking place amongst the other guests well for my part set up little stout Pajie individual with a bald head and a round red good humor countenance I've always been taught to look on the city institutions as the blessedest things ever in went and I maintained that there are the foulest abuses in the universe exclaimed a tall thin shallow faced individual striking the table with his clenched fist as he spoke why should everything of Temple Bar be different from everything west he demanded looking sternly round upon the company as if to defy anyone to answer his questions why should it be necessary to have barristers as magistrates in Westminster and fat stupid old alderman in the city why should the ridiculous ostentation useless trappings the preposterous display of the mayorality be maintained for so miserably small a fraction of the great metropolis talk of your city institutions indeed they are either the most awful nonsense that ever made grown up persons look more absurd than little boys playing with paper cocked hats and wooden swords or else they are rottenness and corruption when the municipal corporations were reformed in 1835 why was the city of London omitted did not Lord John Russell then pledge himself most solemnly and sacredly to bring in a separate bill for the London Corporation and has this promise almost amounting to a vow ever been fulfilled no and why because every government one after another is afraid to lose the political support of this precious corporation which considerations is sacrificed every principle of justice, propriety and common sense look at the rascally extravagance and vow profusion which characterised the corporation the parish of Saint Merlebone with this 140,000 inhabitants only expands 128,000 pounds for those parochial purposes which cost the city with a population of 10,000 less than the other nearly a million the difference is that Merlebone is governed by an intelligent vestry whereas London is under a stupid corporation look again at the iniquities perpetrated by the alderman in their capacity as licensing magistrates the gross partiality that they show towards some publicans and the inveterate hostility they manifest towards others the rights of the freemen are a scandal and a shame many able mechanics and other operatives being frequently driven from the city on account of their inability to pay the money for taking up their freedom then again look at the preposterous power which the Lord Mayor enjoys of stopping up all the thoroughfares and impeding business in every shape and way on any occasion when it may suit him and his bloated guzzling purse-proud adherents to pass in their gingerbread coaches through the city is this consistent with British freedom is it compatible with the rights or interests of the citizens far and the speaker resumed his pipe in deep disgust at the abuses which he had thus succinctly but most truly enumerated well I don't know but I like all our old institutions said the bald-headed man with the stolid obstinacy of noble narrow-mindedness which so frequently characterized the John bullism of a certain class the wisdom of our ancestors the wisdom of the devil ejaculated the tall shallow-faced individual who had held forth on the city abuses that is a fool's reason for admiring established and inveterate corruption the wisdom of our ancestors indeed why those ancestors believed in the divine right of kings and were sincere in praying on the 30th of January as if Charles I was really a martyr instead of a traitor our ancestors too put faith in witches I burnt them also it was our ancestors who kindled the fires in Smithfield where a person suffered at the stake and our ancestors advocated the most bloodthirsty code of laws in Europe in virtue of which men were strung up by dozens at the old Bailey our ancestors prosecuted writers for their political and religious opinions and seemed to take a delight in everything that gratified the inhuman ambition of kings and queens to the prejudice of real freedom our ancestors in fact were the most ignorant, besotted bloody-minded miscreants that ever disgraced God's earth and any man who turns and adoring glance upon the deeds of those ruffians deserves to be hooted out in a decent society having thus delivered his sentiments on the subject the seller faced individual was about to resume his pipe when another idea occurring to him he suddenly burst forth again in the following terms but who are those people that generalize so innanely when they speak of the wisdom of our ancestors they are persons who inherit all the old wretched and worn out prejudices of their forefathers without having the intellect or the courage to think for themselves they are the statesmen who gladly fall back upon any argument in order to defend the monstrous abuses of our institutions against the enlightening influence of reform they are the churchmen who are deeply interested in preserving the loaves and fishes of which their ancestors in the hierarchy plundered the nation they are in fact all those individuals who have anything to lose their motivation and everything to gain by the maintenance of a system so thoroughly rotten corrupt and loathsome that it infects and demoralizes every great of society the peer eulogizes the wisdom of his ancestors because they handed down to him usurped privileges and in hereditary rank the principle of which is a crying shame the member of the house of commons speaks of the wisdom of his ancestors because he holds his seat through the frightful corruption introduced by them into the electoral system the placement talks of the wisdom of his ancestors because they invented sine cures and distributed with the lavish hand of robbers the gold which they rung from the marrow and the sinew of the industry's millions the parse and praises the wisdom of his ancestors because they invented the atrocious system of allowing a rector to enjoy and paying his cure at 90 pounds a year for it doing everything the lawyer praises the wisdom of his ancestors because they devise such mirrors of insane stupid unjust rascally and contradictory enactments that a man cannot move hand or foot even in the most trivial and common sense affairs without the intervention of an attorney and wherever that common sense does exist on one side law is almost sure to be on the other same way that wherever justice is there law is not for my part I do firmly believe that there is not a more wretched and depressed country in all the world than England nor a more duped, deceived galled and humbugged people on the face of the earth than the English talk of freedom indeed why almost every institution you have is in favor of the rich and against the poor I can't say that I see it observe the ball-pated man in the usually dogmatic tone of confirmed obstinacy and unmitigated ignorance then you must be blind ejaculated the other his emphasis indicating sovereign contempt for the individual whom he addressed look at the game laws are they made for the rich or for the poor are not thousands of miserable creatures thrown into jails for during to kill a hare or a pheasant because forsooth it interferes with the sport of the squire do not the rich ride when out hunting through the corn fields of their tenants and what redress can the latter obtain then again look at the state of the law generally what chance has a poor man of bringing a wealthy oppressor to justice who can go to west minister hall without a pocket full of gold why the very railway companies make it up both that by means of capital they can ruin I and break the heart of any poor antagonist in the law court that is caused be ever so just look to it the privileges endured by the landowners but proportion of the taxes do they bear in comparison with the industrious toiling starving peasantry or mechanics on those estates look at the condition of our taxation are not all the necessaries of life subjected to frightful imposts while the luxuries are comparatively cheap to the favorite few who can obtain them what is the proportion between the duty on a poor man's horse and a rich man's carriage in four what the proportion between the poor man's beer and spirits and the rich man's foreign wines again of a sign of the aristocracy once money he is provided with a good place if not an absolute sinecure whereas the poor man is sent to die a lingering and degraded death in that awful jail denominated a workhouse look at the combination of capital against labor if capitalist a monopolist lower wages there's no redress saved by means of a strike on the part of the workmen and a strike is looked upon as something akin to rebellion against the sovereign in every way is the law in favor of the rich in every way is it grinding and oppressive to the poor a profound silence followed these observations for everyone present save the ballpated man perceive their truth and recognize their justice even he had not impudence enough to venture a denial which he could not sustain by argument what we require then resume the seller faced individual at length breaking the long pause is an entire reform a radical reform and not a measure bearing the name without any of the reality I love my country and my countrymen as well as any British subject but it makes my heart bleed to witness the misery which exists throughout the sphere of our industrious population and it makes my blood boil to think that nothing has done to remedy the crying evils and reform the tremendous abuses which I have this night enumerated the discourse was now taken up by several other individuals present the ball headed gentlemen declining to pursue it farther and the seller faced guests fearlessly and ably dissected the whole social and governmental system concluding with an emphatic declaration that the community should agitate morally but unwirably for those reforms which were so much needed it was 12 o'clock when jack rally and vitriol bob issued from the bengal arms and passing through georgia they entered lombard street thence they proceeded towards london bridge over which they walked in a leisurely manner side by side watching each other and maintaining a profound silence down the black fryer's road they went and on reaching the obelisk in st. georgia's fields the doctor paused for a few minutes to make up his mind what course to pursue he was already weary and a mental irritation was growing upon him in spite of his characteristic recklessness and indifference he required rest and he knew that he could obtain none so long as his terrible enemy was by his side perhaps I may wear him out thought the doctor to himself where if I lead him into the open country I shall perhaps be able to give him the slip otherwise we must fight it out in some place where no interruption need be dreaded influenced by these ideas jack rally resumed his wanderings vitriol bob still remaining by his side like the ghost of some murdered victim they proceeded towards the elephant and castle and on reaching that celebrated tavern they once more refreshed themselves with beer as the establishment was still open in consequence of some parochial entertainment that was given there on that particular evening on issuing from the house the two along the Kent Road nearly an hour had now elapsed since they had last exchanged a word for the feeling of desperate irritation was growing stronger and stronger on the part of Jack Riley while vitriol bob was becoming impatient of this delay in the gratification of his implacable vengeance but the light filled the soul of the latter when he found that his companion was taking a direction that led into the open country and breaking the long silence which had prevailed you were getting tired jack not a bit replied the doctor assuming a cheerful tone oh yes you are old fella exclaimed vitriol bob you drag your feet along as if you was I could walk all night without being worried so much as you are now return the doctor and thus speaking he mended his pace I never felt less tired than I am at present jack said vitriol bob but you are failing in quite of this pretended riskness you can't keep it up well see answers the doctor his irritation augmenting fearfully vitriol bob made no further observation upon the subject and the two mist grins walked on side by side until they reached the green man at blackheath there was no tavern no beer shop open and both were thirsty alike with fatigue and the workings of evil passions seating himself upon a bench fixed against the wall of a public house jack Riley without help gnashing his teeth with rage and as he maintained his looks fixed upon the countenance of his enemy his eyes glared with a savage and ferocious malignity the moonlight enabled vitriol bob to catch the full significantly of that expression which distorted the doctor's features and sitting down close by his side he said you are growing desperate now jack I know I should disturb your coolness and composure before long by God you're right my man ejaculated the doctor unable to restrain his irritation I had no enmity against you at first I would have shaken hands with you and been as good friends as ever I and have given you more money than you've ever yet seen in all your life giving it to you as a present but now I hate and detest you I loathe and depour you damnation I could stick my knife into you this very minute two can play at that game return vitriol bob savagely but remember that we're talking tolerably loud just underneath the windows of this air public and I don't feel at all inclined to be balked of the satisfaction of a last and desperate struggle A exclaimed the doctor starting up well we will not delay it much longer come along it is pretty near time that this child's play was put an end to I'm getting sick of it bless you I've no such excitement said vitriol bob rising from the bench and again placing himself by the side of his companion I rather like it than anything else we've had a nice walk plenty of refreshments and now and then a cozy little bit of chat besides the advantage of hearing them political sermons in at the Bengal arms and so I don't think you can say we spent the time wary disagreeably all this was said to irritate the doctors to a more vitriol bob well acquainted with the disposition of his enemy knew that when once he was thus excited it was impossible for him to regain his composure Jack Riley made no answer but continued his way in silence wearyness gaining upon his body as rapidly as bitter ferocity was acquiring a more potent influence over his mind in the section 99 section 100 of mysteries of London volume 4 this is a LibriVox recording our LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org mysteries of London volume 4 by George W. M. Reynolds the catastrophe it was 2 o'clock in the morning when the doctor and vitriol bob ascended shooters hill both were much fatigued but the former far more so than the latter the moon rode high in the heavens which were spangled with thousands of stars and every feature of the scene was brought out into strong relief by the pure silvery light that filled the air the countenance of Jack Riley was ghastly pale and hideous to gaze upon his large teeth gleaming through the opening in his upper lip wearing like those of a wild beast about to spring upon its prey whereas the features of vitriol bob denoted a stern dogged ferocious determination having reached the top of the hill the two men paused as if by mutual though tacit consent and glancing rapidly along the road in each direction they neither saw nor heard anything that threatened to interfere with the deadly purpose on which they were now both intent no sound of vehicles met their ears no human forms dotted the long highway which with its white dust had the appearance of a river traversing the dark plains well are you pretty nearly tired out jack demanded vitriol bob i'm as fresh as ever answer the doctor but you're afraid old feller exclaimed the other not afraid of you retorted jack Riley contemptuously you would have run away if you could set his enemy you are a liar bob was the savage response no it's you that tells the lie jack i've watched you narrowly and i could see all that was a passing in your mind is plain as if it was a book but you can't read a book bob when you have it open before you there you're wrong doctor i've had my education as well as you and a pretty use you've made of it but i don't see any use in our standing palavering here i want to get back to london and so the sooner you let me polish you off the better i'm as anxious to come to the scratch as you where shall it be in the field close by bob we may be interrupted in the road and yet there's nothing and no one to be seen never mind we'll make as sure as possible observe the doctor who throughout this rapid and laconic colloquy had endeavored to appear as collected and as composed as possible but his words had hissed through his teeth for his mouth was as parched as if he had been swallowing the dry dust of the road let's over the hedge then said vitriol bob the two men accordingly made their way into the adjoining field and having proceeded to a short distance down the sloping meadow they suddenly stopped short and confronted each other shall it be here demanded vitriol bob yes responded jack wiley and drawing his class knife already open from his pocket he sprang with a savage howl upon his enemy but vitriol bob was also prepared with his sharp weapon and catching the doctor's right arm with his left hand he inflicted a wound upon the shoulder upon his flow then the two men closed completely upon each other and the death struggle commenced it was an appalling spectacle the knives flashing in the pure moonlight in the eyes of the miscreants glaring savagely each other's embrace savage howls bursting from them at short intervals in less than a minute they were covered with blood but the nature of the contest only permitted them to inflict hideous gashes and not decisive wounds upon each other but suddenly jack wiley's foot slipped and he fell backward bringing however his adversary down upon him for the left hand of each held a firm grasp upon the collar of the other as they thus tumbled vitriol bob to plant his knife in the breast of his antagonist but the spring of the weapon broke and the blade suddenly closing as it glanced over the doctor's shoulder cut through its owner's fingers to the very bone a yell of mingled rage and pain escaped him but the chances were at the same moment equalized by the fact of wiley's clasp knife escaping from his hand the death struggle was now continued by mere brute force and the doctor succeeded in getting almost at the same time he seized upon vitriol bob's nose with his large sharp teeth and bit it completely off in spite of the almost super human efforts of the other to resist the savage attack yelling horribly with the pain and with his countenance bathed in blood vitriol bob once more got his foe beneath him and the doctor echoed those appalling cries of agony as he felt the forefinger of his adversary's left hand thrust into his eyes frightful terrific revolting was the contest at this crisis the two miscreants writhing struggling convulsing like snakes in each other's grasp and the ferocious process of gouging inflicting the agonies of hell upon the maddened jack riley to as down the eye was literally torn out of its socket but the pain excited the doctor to the most tremendous efforts in order to wreak a deadly vengeance upon his foe the sword riley's hand came in contact with the knife which he had air now lost and clutching it with a savage yell of triumph he plunged it into vitriol bob's throat the miscreant mortally wounded rolled over on the grass with a gurgling sound coming from between his lips and jack riley was immediately upon him brandishing the fatal weapon then at that moment as the moonlight fell fully upon the countenance of vitriol bob as he gazed up at his victorious enemy hate what impotent rage what diabolical malignity were depicted upon those distorted features and expressed in every liniment of that blood smeared face our face rendered the more frightful by the loss of the nose who will return to London this morning bob demanded jack riley scarcely able to articulate so parched was his throat so agonizing was the pain in the socket once the eye had been torn out are you can't answer but you know well enough what the vitriol bob made a sudden and desperate effort to throw his enemy off him but he was easily overpowered and in another moment the doctor drove the sharp blade of the knife through the man's right eye deep into the brain so strong was the convulsive spasm which shot through the form of vitriol bob that the doctor was hurled completely off him but all danger of a renewal of the contest was passed jack riley's enemy was no more the conqueror lay for some minutes upon the sword so exhausted that it almost seemed possible to give up the ghost at a gasp it appeared in fact as if he retained a spark of life within himself by his own free will but that were he to breathe even to heart existence would become extinct that moment a sensation of numbness came over him deadening the pain which is eyeless socket occasioned him and for nearly ten minutes a sort of dreamy repose stole upon the man the incidents of the night becoming all his ideas jumbling together pal male but suddenly swift as the lightning darts forth from that thunder cloud upon the obscurity of a stormy sky a feeling of all that had happened and where he was sprang up in the doctor's soul and half rising from his recumbent posture he gazed wildly around with the visual organ that was still left the motionless corpse of his slaughtered enemy lay near and the moonlight rendered the ghastly countenance fearfully visible the pain in the socket now returned with renewed force and the doctor raising himself up with difficulty began to drag his heavy limbs slowly away from the scene of a horrible contest and a dreadful death he was wounded in many places and the anguish which he now again endured through the loss of his eye was maddening him at the bottom of the field there was a pond and Jack Rowley on reaching the bank of this stagnant pool felt that he could at that moment give all the money he possessed for a single glass of pure water a draft from that pond would be delicious but how was he to obtain it he might stoop down and endeavor to raise it with his hand or he might even fill his hat but the bank was steep all round and the wretched man was so exhausted and enfeebled that he knew he should fall in and most likely be suffocated seating himself upon the bank he maintained his one eye fixed upon the pond in which the moon beams were reflected and at the expiration of a few minutes he resolved to make an attempt to assuage his burning thirst even though the consequences should be fatal stooping cautiously down he succeeded in filling his hat but as he was drawing it up he overbalanced himself and fell headlong into the water the pond was deep but Jack Rowley managed to drag himself out and on gaining the bank he fainted how long he remained in a senseless state he knew not or whether a deep sleep had succeeded the fit he was likewise unable to conjecture certain it was however that on awaking slowly from what appeared to have been a profound trance a stronger light than that which he had last seen fell upon his view for the sun had just risen then all the horrors of the past now came back to the wretched memory and though the pain in his eyeless socket was much mitigated it was still poignant enough to bring bitter implications from his lips he endeavored to rise but he was as stiff all over as if he had been beaten soundly with a thick stick wielded by a strong hand and he was also weakened by loss of blood and the fatigues which he had undergone he longed to get back to London not only in order to have surgical assistance to assuage the pain consequent on the frightful injury he had sustained by the loss of his eye but also because he was fearful he would be shortly discovered in his own arrest follow as a matter of course therefore although he would have given worlds to be enabled to lie on the grass for hours longer he raised himself up and moved slowly away across the fields but how could he enter London in the broad daylight covered with blood and maimed as he was one course only appeared open to him namely to remain concealed somewhere until night and then return to his lodgings accordingly he lay down under a hedge at the distance of about a mile from the scene of the previous night's deadly contest and again did he sink into a deep trance from this he was awakened by the sounds of voices and starting up he heard people talking on the other side of the hedge they were laborious and having discovered the corpse of a drill bob in the field joining Shooters Hill they were hurrying back to the farm to which they belonged in order to give it an alarm their remarks denoted indescribable horror and Jack Riley remained a breathless listener until they were out of sight and hearing he then rose and moved off across the fields as quickly as he could drag himself along the sun was now high in the heavens and he thereby knew that it was nearly midday not a breath of wind stirred the air and the heat was stifling he had bandaged his head in such a way with his handkerchief as to conceal the frightful injury which he had the loss of his eye but the pain he experienced was excruciating in a short time he reached out Rivulet where he watched himself and he was likewise enabled to slake his thirst a turnip plug from a field afforded him a sorry meal and thus was a man having thousands of pounds secured about his person reduced to the most miserable shifts and compelled to wander about in the most deplorable condition that it is possible to conceive never had the time appeared to path with such lead wings and oh how the man longed for night to fall not more ardently did Wellington at Waterloo crave for the coming of the obscurity of evening when beaten and hopeless he was in full retreat ere the Prussians made their appearance to change the fortune of the day and when the victory which England so arrogantly claims not more earnestly did the Iron Duke desire the presence of the darkness on that occasion then Jack Rowley in the present instance at last the sun was sinking in the western horizon and the doctor bent his eyes towards the metropolis which lay at a distance of about seven miles it was nine o'clock in the evening when Jack Riley entered the southern suburbs and he succeeded in gaining his lodgings in RuPaul Street without attracting any particular observation a surgeon with whom he was acquainted and who did not ask any questions so long as he was well paid dressed his wounds and the doctor began to think the victory over his mortal enemy cheaply bought by the loss of an eye the victory was compelled to wear certainly increase the hideousness of his countenance but his vanity was not one of his failings this circumstance did not so much trouble him as the inconvenience and the pain attendant upon the loss of the optic in the course of the ensuing day the report spread all over London that the body of a man frightfully mutilated have been discovered in a field near Shooters Hill and that it had been removed to a public house at Blackheath in order recognition a minute description of the clothing which the corpse had on was given in the newspapers and also in placards posted in the principal thoroughfares of the metropolis and it was likewise stated that the class knife with which the mortal blow was struck had been left by the murderer sticking in the victim's head now it happened that Mary Calvert alias pig face mall and whom the reader will recollect to have been already represented as vitriol Bob's was alarmed by the protracted absence of her fancy man and while wondering about in search of him at his usual haunts she observed one of the placards the attire therein specified exactly corresponded with the dress which vitriol Bob wore when he quitted her two days previously and she at once went to the public house where the body was lying a glance was sufficient to convince her that her suspicions were well founded and on examining the class night she instantly treated it as one which she had frequently seen in the possession of Jack Riley everything was now clearly apparent to Molly Calvert she knew the deadly animosity that vitriol Bob had nourished against the doctor she was likewise acquainted with the intention of her paramour to wreak his vengeance upon that individual on the first suitable occasion and she therefore concluded that a deadly conflict had taken place between them ending in the murder of her fancy man at the public house where the body lay she proceeded straight to a police station where she gave such information as led to an immediate search after the doctor in the course of the next day a member of the detectives ascertained that Jack Riley had recently been living in Rupal street and that he had only quitted his lodgings there the preceding evening for the doctor alarmed by the publicity given to the discovery of vitriol Bob's body had deemed it prudent to flit several days he collapsed without affording the police any clue to his whereabouts but at the expiration of a week Molly Calvert herself one evening traced him to an obscure pothouse in one of the vilest parts of Bethnel Green and he was immediately arrested upon his person was found a vast sum in gold and bank notes but chiefly consisting of the latter and this amount was accordingly seized by the officers Jack Riley was then locked up for the night and on the following morning was taken before a magistrate when charged with the murder of vitriol Bob he had once admitted that he had been the cause of that individual's death but declared that it was in self-defense his story was corroborated by many circumstances amongst which the loss of his eye was not the least for the organ had been found as it was torn out of its socket close by the corpse the gashes which the man had received vitriol Bob's own clasp knife discovered on the fatal spot and the evident marks of a fearful struggle having taken place all proved that the deed was neither co-blooded nor accomplished by surprise on the other hand might not Jack Riley have himself provoked the contest which terminated so fatally to his opponent this point the magistrate left to a jury to decide and the doctor was ordered to be committed for trial relative to the money found upon his person he persisted in declaring that it was his own and that he had come by it honestly but from what source he refused to state in section 100 section 101 of mysteries of London volume 4 this is of LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org mysteries of London volume 4 by George W. M. Reynolds the castle castle in republic castle became a republic and Richard Markham have the immortal honor of founding a purely democratic government in the finest day belonging to the Italian peninsula the chamber of senators voted by an immense majority the very measure which deprived them of their rank of peers and abolished titles of nobility altogether this species of suicidal process adopted an obedience to the popular will the interests of the community at large and the dictates of a consummate civilization presented the glorious spectacle to the eyes of all the world and these good men who thus sacrificed their own family interests to those of their country experienced a rich reward in the enthusiasm with which they were received by the people when the result of the division on the third reading of the bill was made known for no empty honors could out by that applause which grateful myriads thus poured forth and if Dukes, Marqueses counts by counts and barons went home that day denuded of those titles they had the proud recompense of a conviction that their names would shine all the more resplendently in history through their own unartificial light there's was now the aristocracy of virtue and intelligence the chamber of peers was abolished but all those who had voted in favor of the government measures were returned by a grateful people as members of the national assembly which was now convoked the new system admitting of only one house of parliament the moment that August body met one of its earliest duties was to frame the new constitution and this was done on the broadest and the most evolved amongst other matters thus definitively settled that the president of the republic should be elected on the principle of universal suffrage and for three years and we need scarcely inform our readers that there was not even any opposition attempted against general Marquem but in the meantime for these proceedings occupied upwards of two months the other Italian states had become seriously alarmed and the diplomatic agents of Naples, Rome, Tuscany and Sardinia were ordered by their respective governments to demand their passports these were instantaneously granted and shortly after the departure of the envoys a league was formed by the sovereigns of the states which we have named for the purpose of compelling castle to return into the sisterhood of monarchical countries protocols first poured into the foreign office at Montoni and these were logically answered by the minister presiding over that department menaces followed and these were treated without firmness proving how confidently general Marquem and his cabinet relied upon the castle to defend the institutions which they had consecrated an ultimatum threatening immediate hostilities was now signed by that bloodthirsty miscreant the king of Naples by the weak timid isolating Pope Pius the ninth by the grand duke of Tuscany about Charles Albert king of Sardinia to this document Richard Marquem replied through the minister of foreign affairs insisting upon the right of the castle sickle ends as a free people to choose their own form of government and the argument was so well sustained by a massive reasoning that the king of Sardinia and the grand duke of Tuscany withdrew from the league re-accrediting their diplomatic agents to the castle sickle and republic the timid pope was frightened by the knowledge of Marquem's military prowess into a similar course and the tyrant Ferdinand of Naples was left alone in hostility against the newly established democracy this monarch obstinate self-willed and bloodthirsty like all the bourbons was not disheartened by what he called the defection of the pontiff the grand duke of Tuscany and the king of Piedmont but he immediately declared war against their castle sickle and republic there upon general Marquem commenced the most active preparations not only to prevent an invasion but to carry hostilities into the enemy's country in a short time an army of 26,000 men was collected in the south of the state and Richard having taken leave of his family proceeded to join it attended by a numerous staff of which Charles Hadfield was a member the executive power was in the meantime delegated to senior Basana his brother-in-law and the utmost enthusiasm pervaded the entire castle sickle and population so great was the confidence entertained in the valor of the army and the skill of its commander it was in the first week of December 1846 that the castle sickle forces commenced their march towards the Neapolitan frontier intelligence had already arrived to the effect that the Neapolitans to the number of 40,000 men were advancing under the command of general Avalino but Markham well knowing that the spirit of a republican army was far greater than that which animates troops belonging to a monarchy was not daunted by this immense numerical superiority on the part of the enemy he was deeply impressed with the opinion that Napoleon Bonaparte had damped the order of his soldiers by exchanging the consular cap for the imperial crown his knowledge of French history told him that Bonaparte's grandest victories were gained with the republican army and he was likewise well aware that the Neapolitan troops loathed and abhorred the monarch who had sent them out to fight against liberal institutions he therefore resolved to push on and meet the enemy for his generous nature contemplated with horror the prospect of an invasion of the fertile plains of castle sickle by an army which even in its own country acted the lawless and ferocious part of a horde of plunders and ravagers on the 7th of December general Markham entered the Neapolitan territory at the head of his troops and on the same evening he encamped beneath the walls of Casino which surrendered without the least attempt at resistance here he waited four days in the hope that the Neapolitans would advance to the attack but hearing that they had halted to rest while at Sabino a place about 60 miles distant he determined to continue his march accordingly in the afternoon of the 13th he came within sight of general Avelino's army which he found to be occupying a strong position at a short distance from Sabino general Markham ascended an elevated flat to reconorder the precise distribution of the Neapolitans and he was speedily convinced that an immense advantage might be gained by placing the artillery upon that height the task was a difficult one to accomplish but nothing was impossible to enact the commander and enthusiastic troops and thus in a few hours hollows were filled up, projections leveled and a pathway cleared for the ascent of the cannon meantime general Avelino had made no movement on his side and air sunset the work of establishing the artillery on the eminence was complete the inactivity of the enemy during the entire afternoon led Markham to believe that Avelino meditated an attack in the course of the night and the castle sicklings were therefore fully prepared to give the Neapolitans a warm reception but hour after hour passed without any indication of the approach of the enemy general Markham resolved to take the initiative at daybreak scarcely had the sun risen on the morning of the 14th of December when the action commenced by smart fire on the part of the castle sickling light troops commanded by an active and gallant officer in whom the general had full confidence the Neapolitans were thereby dislodged from an apparently inaccessible position near Sabino and the result was that the castle sicklings were unable to stretch out upon the plane so as to threaten the enemies flanks both armies were soon within cannon shot and by nine o'clock in the four noon the action became general the maneuvers on the castle sickle inside were performed with a marvelous precision fully compensating for the numerical inferiority of Markham's troops and by midday that had succeeded in gaining possession of a wood which covered one of the enemy's core at the same time the cannon upon the height were scattering death throughout the Neapolitan ranks and General Avalina ordered up his reserve of cavalry to take a share in the conflict Markham was well prepared for this proceeding and at the head of his Quirassier he dashed against the newcomers this charge was made with an impetuosity altogether irresistible and the Neapolitans were thrown into disorder in that part of the field the castle sicklings pursued their advantage and by four o'clock in the afternoon the enemy were completely overwhelmed the Neapolitan loss was immense upwards of 12,000 men of that army lay dead upon the field while an equal number had been made prisoners and Markham's side the number of killed did not exceed 2,000 but the generous hearted young men considered his funded victory to be dearly bought even by means of that sacrifice and the eyes which flashed with the fires of heroism on the battlefield now melted into tears at the evidences of the sanguinary fight we should observe that the conduct of Charles Hadfield was admirable throughout this memorable day in the charge upon the Neapolitan cavalry he comported himself in a manner that more than once gained for him the approval of his commander and when the strife was over and the victory was won Markham complimented him on his prowess in the presence of the officers gathered about him at the time the booty acquired by this great battle was immense for the Neapolitans despite the conflict were compelled to retreat with such precipitation as to leave all their baggage and artillery in the hands of their enemy on the following day Markham set his army in motion towards the capital at the gates of which he was determined to force the king to acknowledge the castle, sickle and republic but in his progress through the Neapolitan dominions he adopted the most rigorous measures to protect the innocent inhabitants from plunder or wrong at the hands of his victorious troops and he issued a proclamation to the effect that any soldier found guilty of an act of oppression or outrage should be expelled the army and deprived of his civil rights as a castle, sickle and citizen it was at about midday on the 17th of December that Markham came with inside of Naples and he was then met by Panit Potentiaries sent by King Ferdinand to treat for an armistice preparatory to negotiations for peace Ferdinand received the deputies with the utmost courtesy he however bad them observed that it was not for him to treat but to dictate thereupon he drew up the conditions on which he would spare the capital and retire from the kingdom those terms being the acknowledgement of the castle, sickle and republic the payment of all the expenses incurred by castle, sickle in consequence of this war and to guarantee against the renewal of hostilities on the same pretense to these conditions Ferdinand refused to exceed and the citizens of Naples were called upon to arm in defense of the capital but the people rose up as one man within the walls of the city and threatened to dethrone the king unless he accepted the terms set forth by General Markham the bloodthirsty Ferdinand was accordingly compelled to submit to the demands of the castle, sickle and general and the conditions being fulfilled in the course of a few days Markham began to retrace his way to the state which he had thus completed the construction it would be impossible to describe the enthusiasm with which the victorious general and his army were received on their return to castle, sickle the roads were lined with a grateful population anxious to catch a glimpse of the hero and to testify their joy at the conquest which he had achieved over the enemy triumphal arches were raised flags were waving in all directions towns were illuminated municipal corporations appeared with congratulatory addresses the peasantry made bonfires on the hills as proofs of their delight when the army approached Montoni the general's family came out to meet him and Isabella experienced more sincere pride in embracing a husband whose citizen name it was an honor to bear then if he still wore a princely title and held a sovereign rank peace was thus ensured to castle, sickle and the republic was firmly established not only by the will of the people but likewise by the prowess of the army Charles Hatfield who as one of the general's aides to camp already held the rank of lieutenant was now invested with the captaincy and one of the members of the national assembly happening to die at the time the constituency thus left temporarily unrepresented offered to elect him as their deputy but he felt anxious to return to England for letters reached him about this period informing him that Mr. Hatfield's health had laterally caused serious apprehensions to his relatives and friends and the young man accordingly attended leave of absence for a period this was granted without hesitation and Charles Hatfield took his departure laden with presence from Markham and his family and attended with their sincerest wishes for his prosperity end of section 101 section 102 of mysteries of London volume 4 this is a LibriVox recording while LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org mysteries of London volume 4 by George W. M. Reynolds Charles Hatfield in London again the information which Charles Hatfield had received respecting his father's health was too true indeed the accounts were purposely mitigated in order to alarm him as little as possible and on his arrival at Lord Ellingham's mansion in Palmel he found Mr. Hatfield confined to his bed Charles was greatly shocked at this circumstance for he could not help fancy that his conduct had contributed mainly to undermine his father's health but Mr. Hatfield reassured him on that head by declaring that a severe cold was the commencement of his illness were I thrown upon this bed of sickness by any fault of yours Charles he said pressing his son's hand affectionately in both his own your behavior during your short sojourn in Italy would speedily raise me from it not only have the newspapers mentioned your name in a manner highly creditable to you but General Markham has sent us accounts of the most satisfactory nature concerning you these words were gratifying indeed to the young man I can assure you my revered parent he said that I am indeed fully and completely changed the image of that by a woman whom we will not name is loathsome and abhorrent to me and I would as readily come in contact with a serpent as meet her again respecting that insane ambition which animated me at the same time I formed that disastrous attachment an ambition which prompted me to aspire to a noble title it has all vanished as if it had never been I have contemplated republican institutions I have seen a mighty prince and all his family lay aside their high rank without regret and abandoned their titles with cheerfulness and at their own free will and I have likewise beheld the magnates of the land following the same example so that the equality of citizenship may be fully established and I am now astonished that I could ever have aspired to mere titular distinction and the rise have been open to the fact that men may be great and rise to fame without those that have been tissue's aids which savor a feudal barbarism and I am prouder of that rank of captain which the battle of Sabino gave me in the army of republican castle Sicula then I could possibly be where the cornet of Ellingham placed upon my brow oh how happy should I feel could we all proceed to castle Sicula and settle for life in that beautiful city of Montoni which I love so well yes all of us to fix our habitation there continued Charles with the enthusiasm that was characteristic of his nature you my dear mother who received me so kindly the excellent Earl and his amiable countess myself and what is to become of poor lady Francis asked Mr. Hatfield with a smile in spite of his severe indisposition wherefore she not included in your list you think that the Earl and the countess would leave their amiable and lovely daughter behind them Charles had veal blushed deeply as his father thus addressed him well my dear boy you make no reply resumed Mr. Hatfield with a smile and a smile of ineffable satisfaction it was still playing upon his pale countenance as Lady Francis offended you did she not receive you on your arrival ere now with as much kindness as the rest oh yes yes exclaimed Charles and she appeared to me more exquisitely beautiful than ever fool that I was in sense a dull idiot madman ever to place myself in a position in which do not excite yourself thus my dear boy interrupted Mr. Hatfield you admire Lady Francis he observed after a short pause and now attentively watching his son's countenance my god do not ask me that question my dear father ejaculated Charles with the expression of deep anguish on his features I love my beautiful cousin I love her and she cannot be mine oh since I've been absent I have pondered on her image I've cherished it as if it were that of a guardian angel I've compared the amiability and excellence of Francis with the character of that woman and you may judge how resplendently the charming girl shines by means of such a contrast and you may hope Charles said Mr. Hatfield raising himself partially up in the bed happiness yet awaits you happiness hope my dear father ejaculated Charles you speak in enigmas you nay I speak only what I mean and all I say is intelligible interrupted Mr. Hatfield I tell you that you may hope for happiness that Lady Francis may yet become your wife is it possible cried the young man clasping his hands in the face of his joy but how is that woman dead he demanded speaking with strange rapidity of utterance no she is not dead responded his father but she has married again married ejaculated Charles and yet I do not see how that circumstance will alter my position he added in a desponding tone listen attentively and do not excite yourself at one moment and in the next give way to despair said Mr. Hatfield Charles seated himself at his father's bedside and prepared to hear with attention the words that were about to be addressed to him some time ago when it was first resolved that you should proceed to Italy for a short time said Mr. Hatfield the Earl of Ellingham communicated to me the generous views which he entertained with regard to you he observed that as you had already discarded the woman who had ensnared you and as she had agreed never more to molest you you were morally severed in respect to the matrimonial bond he moreover declared that should this woman contract another marriage and thereby prove that such severance was complete it would be a despicable fastidiousness and a contemptible affectation to tell you that you must never know matrimonial happiness but that you must remain in your present false position a husband without a wife for the remainder of your days those were the very words which is Lordship used Charles on the occasion to which I am eluding oh am I to understand exclaimed the young man silence interrupted Mr. Hatfield be not impatient nor impetuous but hear me out Lord Ellingham continued to observe that if the woman should contract a new marriage and if you Charles manifested contrition for the past if your conduct were such as to afford sure guarantees for the future if your attachment for Lady Francis should revive under all those circumstances the Earl declared that he should not consider himself justified in stamping the unhappiness alike of yourself and his daughter by refusing his consent to your union do I hear a right exclaimed Charles a giddiness coming over him through excessive joy oh what generosity on the part of the Earl yes his sentiments on this subject were fraught with liberality returned Mr. Hatfield he argued in the following manner a young man has been snared into an alliance with a woman whom he believed to be pure but whom in a few hours he discovered to be a demon of pollution they separate upon written conditions of the most positive character a private arrangement being deemed preferable to the public scandal of an appeal to the tribunals this woman marries again in every remnant of a claim which she might have had upon the individual whom she had ensnared and deluded ceases at once there is a complete snapping of the bond a total severance of the tie and her conduct by the fact of the second marriage proves that she so understands it the law may certainly proclaim the first marriage to be the only legal one but morality which holds marriage to be a covenant between two parties revolts against the principle which the code established is it is upon these grounds that the Earl of Ellingham will give you the hand of his lovely and amiable daughter it were useless to attempt to describe the joy which filled the soul of Charles Hatfield when these tidings met his ears he seized his father's hand and pressed it to his lips with grateful fervor then promising to return in a few minutes he flew to the library where he understood the Earl to be a good nobleman and casting himself at the feet of that good nobleman he implored pardon for his past conduct declaring that nothing should induce him to swear from the path of rectitude in future the Earl of Ellingham raised the contrite young man embraced him affectionately and led him through a complete veil over all that related to his unfortunate marriage his lordship then repeated but more concisely the observations which Mr. Hatfield had already made to his son and at the conclusion of the interview he said and now Charles, if your inclinations really and truly prompt you to take the step, you have my permission to solicit Lady Francis to allow you to become the suitor for her hand Captain Hatfield expressed his liveliest gratitude in suitable terms and hastening back to his father he narrated all that had just occurred between himself and the Earl Mr. Hatfield was cheered and delighted by the spectacle of his son's happiness and bade him repair to the drawing room to pass an hour with the ladies we need scarcely state that Lady Georgiana was much pleased by the return of Charles to England especially as he had so highly distinguished himself in the Neapolitan campaign no less was the countess of Ellingham the amiable ester gratified by an event which restored the missing one to the family circle while Lady Francis attempted not to conceal the joy that the young soldier's presence afforded her it is not however our purpose to dwell upon this subject for we have now to relate an incident which led to consequences of great importance to several persons who have figured in our narrative the day after Charles Hatfield's arrival in London he was proceeding on foot up Regent Street in order to pay a visit to his tailor for the purpose of making some additions to his wardrobe when he met Captain Barthelma for Laura's husband had lost his title of count of Carinano in consequence of the establishment of the Republic in Castle Sicula the young Italian was alone and the meeting between the two was most friendly and cordial for during the short time that they were acquainted Charles had observed many excellent qualities on the part of Barthelma who was enraptured with the heroic conduct that Captain Hatfield had displayed at the Battle of Sabino a full narrative of which had duly appeared in the English newspapers taking the arm of Charles Captain Barthelma walked with him up Regent Street and for some time they conversed upon the late Neapolitan campaign the glorious destinies of Republican Castle Sicula the noble conduct of President Markham and various other matters connected with the Italian's native land it has grieved me greatly in one sense observed Barthelma that I should have been absent from my post about the person of General Markham at a time when such momentous incidents were taking place but on the other hand I rejoice in my withdrawal from that hero's service in as much as I thereby secured the hand of one of the most lovely Navy most lovely woman in the world I congratulate you most sincerely upon having formed an alliance which appears to afford you so much happiness answered Charles and I hope to have the honor of being presented to this in your for I presume you have espoused a lady belonging to your own country no she is an English woman returned Captain Barthelma and you have seen her indeed exclaimed Charles yes you have seen her repeated the Italian but tell me do you recollect that day when you Lieutenant de Ponte and myself walked together in the Champs Elyse in consequence of a mysterious note which we received from our pretended Spanish refugee oh yes yes I will remember that day exclaimed Captain Hatfield indeed how could I ever forget it you speak with excitement my dear friend said Barthelma surprised at his companion's manner but entertaining not the slightest suspicion of the real cause of his agitation if you only knew all observe the young man but I will tell you to warn you against falling into the power of the vilest woman that ever wore an angel shape to conceal a demon heart I will reveal to you sufficient to place you on your guard against that siren should you ever happen to encounter her for her disposition is such that to gratify her wantonness her caprice or her avarice she would as readily pray upon a married as on an unmarried man indeed you interest me said that castle sickle in still altogether unsuspicious of the real meaning of the illusion yes but the interest will soon become of an appalling character resume Charles speaking in a tone of deep solemnity for there is in the world a woman whose loveliness is so superhuman and whose witchery is so irresistible that she would move the heart of an anchorite this woman was born in Nugget where a mother was incarcerated in a larger forgery and when she was soon afterwards transported to Australia the child was called Perdita or the lost one and the mother took the babe with her to her place of exile years passed away and Perdita had grown up to a lovely girl but the natural wantonness of her disposition manifested itself at a very early age and her profligacy soon became notorious at Sydney well in due time the mother returned to England Perdita accompanying her and in London did those women commence their grand scheme of praying upon the public alas Jalak confessed how weak how mad how insensate I was but the delirium has passed away and I now look back upon it with a loathing which prevents me from contemplating it coolly for I was ensnared by that vow Perdita and I became a victim I proceeded with her to Paris and my father followed to rescue me from ruin discovered the place of our abode and painted the character of that woman in such frightful, such appalling colors without the least exaggeration that I was reduced to despair on account of the conduct which I had pursued I quitted Paris returned to London and was then received into the service of General Marcom but you are now asked me if I remembered the day when yourself Dipanta and I walked together in the Champs Elysees you shall now judge whether I have reason to retain the incident in my memory for you, Barthelma, cannot have forgotten that lady who so much attracted your notice and who purposely let fall her parasol but heavens, what is the matter with you ejaculated Captain Hatfield perceiving that his companion started as if a ghastly specter had suddenly sprang up before him my God, is it possible that woman in the Champs Elysees gassed the young Italian a deadly power over spreading his countenance while he staggered backward and would have fallen had not Charles sustained him by the arm that woman for a lady I can scarcely call it was Portita Mortimer said Hatfield emphatically Oh, maladiction upon the hateful siren exclaimed Barthelma terribly excited compose yourself, what is the matter you will attract observation the people will notice you I am composed, yes I am cool and collected now murmured the unhappy young Italian all his tremendous imprudence bursting upon his comprehension like a thunderstorm here let us pass up this street it is comparatively deserted and we can converse more at our ease he faltered painfully as he dragged his companion up New Burlington street a suspicion had in the meantime flashed to the imagination of Charles Hatfield was it possible that Barthelma could have married the profligate Portita or Laura he himself had not learned from his father how he knew the siren demoness was married again or whom she had thus ensnared and the Italian sudden excitement could not be accounted for otherwise than by the fact that he had made her his wife my god this intelligence is overwhelming murmured Captain Barthelma oh my dear friend he exclaimed turning with the abruptness of an almost maddening excitement towards Hatfield pity me pity me that woman of whom you have spoken is is what demanded Charles impatiently my wife responded Barthelma and the moment the words were uttered his excitement gave way to a blank despair maladdiction upon my communicativeness my insane garrulity ejaculated Charles I shall never never forgive myself for having made these most uncalled for revelations do not blame yourself my dear friend return the young Italian in a tone of the deepest melancholy you knew not how painfully your words would affect me you could not anticipate that the warning which you generously intended to convey would come far too late and after all there may be some errors some mistake cried Charles catching at a straw on behalf of his afflicted companion the woman whom I mean may not be the same as the lady whom you have espoused yes yes is the same ejaculated the Italian impatiently Laura Mortimer the beautyous creature whom he saw on the Champs Elysees news mother met with a horrible death some months ago that a woman is no more exclaimed Charles but of what nature was the death of which you speak so shudderingly the frightful incident occurred when you were in Italy answered Barthelma some villain broke a bottle of Aqua Fortis or vitriol over her head and she died in fearful agonies but I must leave you now my dear friend said that castle sickle in with wild the breathness of manner and hastily ringing both of Hatfield's hands he darted away and was out of sight in a few moments end of section one hundred and two