The men pa.s.sed on out of sight and hearing; but the words struck terror to the heart of Julia. She started up and gazed wildly around her, expecting every moment to see the myrmidons of the law approaching, to drag her away to prison. Then she looked down upon the calm river, on whose placid breast reposed the soft moonlight.
"Why should I live?" she murmured, sadly--"earth has no longer any charms for me; the past brings remorse, the present is most wretched, the future full of impending horror! Death is my only refuge; the only cure for all my sorrows. Take me to thy embrace, thou peaceful river; thou canst end my earthly woes, but thou canst not wash off the stains of guilt from my soul! There may be a h.e.l.l, but its torments cannot exceed those of this world--"
She mounted upon the topmost rail of the bridge, clasped her hands, muttered a brief prayer, and leaped into the river. There was a splash--a gurgling sound--and then profound and solemn silence resumed its reign.
One more unfortunate, Weary of breath, Rashly importunate, Gone to her death!
The bleak wind of March Made her tremble and shiver; But not the dark arch Of the black flowing river; Mad from life"s history, Glad to death"s mystery, Swift to be hurl"d-- Any where, any where Out of the world!
In she plunged boldly, No matter how coldly The rough river ran-- Over the brink of it, Picture it--think of it, Dissolute Man!
Owning her weakness, Her evil behaviour!
And leaving, with meekness, Her sins to her Saviour!
CHAPTER XXIX
_Wherein one of the Characters in this Drama maketh a sudden and rapid exit from the stage._
In an upper apartment of an old, rickety wooden building in Ann street, two men were seated at a rough deal table, engaged in smoking long pipes and discussing the contents of a black bottle. Not to keep the reader in suspense, we may as well state at once that these two individuals were no other than our old acquaintances, the Dead Man and the Doctor.
The room was dusky, gloomy, and dirty, with a mult.i.tude of cob-webs hanging from the ceiling, and the broken panes in the windows stuffed full of rags. The smoke-dried walls were covered with rude inscriptions and drawings, representing deeds of robbery and murder; and a hanging scene was not the least prominent of these interesting specimens of the "fine arts." The house was a noted resort for thieves, and the old harridan who kept it was known to the police as a "fence," or one who purchased stolen goods.
"Yes, Doctor," cried the Dead Man, with an oath, as he slowly removed the pipe from his lips, and blew a cloud which curled in fantastic wreaths to the ceiling--"this state of affairs won"t answer: we must have money. And money we _will_ have, this very night, if our spy, Stuttering Tom, succeeds in finding out where those Franklin ladies live. The bottle"s out--knock for another pint of _lush_."
The Doctor obeyed, and in answer to the summons an old, wrinkled, blear-eyed hag made her appearance with the liquor. This old wretch was the "landlady" of the house; she had been a celebrated and beautiful courtezan in her day, but age and vice had done their work, and she was now an object hideous to look upon. Though tottering upon the verge of the grave (she was over eighty,) an inordinate love of money, and an equal partiality for "the ardent," were her characteristics; but stranger than all, the miserable old creature affected still to retain, undiminished, those amorous propensities which had distinguished her in her youth! This horrible absurdity made her act in a manner at once ludicrous and disgusting; and the Dead Man, being facetiously inclined, resolved to humor her weakness, and enjoy a laugh at her expense by pretending to have fallen in love with her.
"By Satan!" he cried, clasping the old crone around the waist--"you look irresistible to-night, mother: I"ve half a mind to ravish a kiss from ye--ha, ha, ha!"
"Have done, now!" exclaimed the hag, in a cracked tone, at the same time vainly endeavoring to contort her toothless jaws into an engaging simper, while the Doctor nearly burst with laughter--"have done now, or I"ll slap ye for your impudence. But, faith, ye are such a pleasant gentleman, that I don"t mind bestowing a kiss or two upon ye!"
"You"re a gay old la.s.s," said the Dead Man, without availing himself of the old lady"s kind permission--"you have been a "high one" in your time, but your day is nearly over."
"No, no!" shrieked the old wretch, while her head and limbs quivered with palsy--"don"t say that--I"m young as ever, only a little _shakey_, or so--I"m not going to die for many, many years to come--ha, ha, ha! a kiss, love, a kiss--"
The old woman fell to the floor in a paralytic fit, and when they raised her up, they found that she was dead!
"Devil take the old fool!" cried the Dead Man, throwing the corpse contemptuously to the floor--"I meant to have strangled her some day, but I now am cheated of the sport. No matter; drink, Doctor!"
The dead body was removed by several of the wretched inmates of the house, just as Stuttering Tom entered to announce the result of his search for the Franklin ladies.
Tom was a short, dumpy specimen of humanity, with red hair, freckled face, nose of the pug order, and goggle eyes. His dress was picturesque, if not ragged: his coat and pants were so widely apart, at the waist, as to reveal a large track of very incorrect linen; and the said coat had been deprived of one of its tails, an unfortunate occurrence, as the loss exposed a large compound fracture in the rear of the young gentleman"s trowsers, whereby he was subjected to the remark that he had "a letter in the post office." His name was derived from an inveterate habit of stuttering with which he was afflicted; and he related the issue of his search somewhat in the following manner:
"You see, I ha-ha-happened to be l-loafing down Wa-Wa-Washington street, this evening, quite pro-miscus like, ven I seed two vim-vimmen, as vos gallus ha-handsum, and dr-dressed to kill, a valking along, vich puts me in m-m-mind of the F-F-Franklin vimmen, as you hired me to f-f-find out.
So I up and f-follers "em, and by-and-by a f-fellers meets "em and says, says he, "Good evening, Missus and Miss F-F-Franklin." These is the werry victims, says I to myself; and I f-f-foller them till they goes into a house in Wa-Washington street--and here I am."
"You have done well, Tom," said the Dead Man, approvingly--"you must now conduct us to the house in Washington street which the ladies entered: it is nine o"clock, and time that we should be up and doing."
Stuttering Tom led the way, and the three issued from the house. Ann street was "all alive" at that hour; from every cellar came forth the sound of a fiddle, and the side-walks were crowded with a motley throng of Hibernians, Ethiopians, and Cyprians of an inferior order. Talk of Boston being a moral city! There is villainy, misery and vice enough in Ann street alone, to deserve for the whole place the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah.
The Dead Man and the Doctor, under the guidance of Stuttering Tom, soon reached the house in Washington street where Josephine and her mother had taken up their residence. The guide was then rewarded and dismissed; the two adventurers ascended the steps, and one of them rang the door-bell.
A servant girl answered the summons, and in reply to their inquiries informed them that the ladies were both in the parlor.
"Show us up there," said the Dead Man, in a commanding tone, as he concealed his hideous face behind his upturned coat-collar. The girl obeyed, and having conducted them up a flight of stairs, ushered them into an apartment where Josephine and her mother were seated, engaged there in playing _ecarte_.
Their confusion and terror may easily be imagined, when turning to see who their visitors were, their eyes rested upon the awful lineaments of the DEAD MAN!
"Your humble servant, ladies," said the villain, with a triumphant laugh--"you see you cannot hide from me, or escape me. Fair Josephine, you look truly charming--will you oblige me with a private interview?"
"It will be useless," said Josephine coldly, as she recovered some portion of her composure--"we have no more money to give you."
"You can give me something more acceptable than _money_," rejoined the other, with a horrible leer--"at our last interview I told you what I should require at our next. Doctor, I leave you with the voluptuous mother, while I make court to the beautiful daughter."
He grasped Josephine violently by the arm, and dragged her from the room, forced her into an adjoining apartment, and thrust her brutally upon a sofa, saying with a fearful oath--
"Dare to resist me, and I"ll spoil your beauty, miss! Why do you act the prude with me--_you_, a shameless hussey, who has numbered more amours than years?"
"Odious ruffian!" exclaimed Josephine, no longer able to control her indignation--"I view you with contempt and loathing. Sooner than submit to your filthy embraces, I will dare exposure, and death itself! Think not to force me to a compliance with your wishes--I will resist you while life animates my frame. I fear you not, low villain that you are."
The Dead Man raised his _iron hand_ as if to dash out her brains for her temerity.--But he checked himself, and surveyed her with a sort of calm ferocity, as he said--"Young lady, since you are determined to oppose my wishes, I will not force you. Neither will I kill you; yet my vengeance shall be more terrible than death. You are beautiful and you pride yourself upon that beauty--but I will deprive you of your loveliness. You call me hideous--I will make you hideous as I am. Your cheeks shall become ghastly, your complexion livid, and your brilliant eyes shall become sightless...o...b..--for the curse of _blindness_ shall be added to your other miseries. Obstinate girl, bid an eternal farewell to eyesight and beauty, for from this moment you are deprived of both, forever!"
He drew from his pocket a small phial, and with the quickness of lightning dashed it in the face of the unfortunate Josephine. It was shattered in a hundred pieces, and the contents--VITRIOL--ran in her eyes and down her face, burning her flesh in the most horrible manner.
She shrieked with agony the most intense, and the Doctor rushed into the room, followed by Mrs. Franklin. They both stood aghast when they beheld the awful spectacle.
The Doctor was the first to recover his presence of mind; he rushed to the aid of the burning wretch, and saved her life, though he could not restore her lost eyesight, or remove the horrible disfigurement of her burned and scarred visage. Mrs. Franklin was so overcome at her daughter"s misfortune and sufferings that she fell upon the floor insensible.
At that moment the door of the apartment was violently thrown open, and a young gentleman entered. The Dead Man and the Doctor turned, and in the newcomer recognised Frank Sydney!
It will be necessary to explain the mystery of Frank"s sudden appearance at that emergency. A day or two after the suicide of Julia, the body of that wretched woman was picked up by some fisherman, and conveyed to the city, where it was immediately recognized as the lady of Mr. Hedge. The circ.u.mstance of her death soon came to the knowledge of our hero; and while he could not help shedding a tear as he thought of her melancholy fate (she had once been his wife, and he had once loved her,) he could not deny to himself that he derived a secret joy from the thought, that now his hopes with reference to Sophia Franklin were not without some foundation. Acting upon this impulse, he had taken the earliest opportunity to call upon the young lady; and at that interview, he had with his customary frankness, related to her his entire history, and concluded his narrative by making her an offer of his hand and heart--and, reader, that honorable offer was accepted with the same frankness with which it was made. On the evening in question, Frank was enjoying one of those charming _tete-a-tetes_ with his Sophia, which all lovers find so delightful, when the agonizing screams of the suffering Josephine brought him to the room, as we have seen, and he found himself, to his astonishment, standing face to face with the Dead Man and the Doctor.
"Why, blood and fury!" cried the former, a gleam of pleasure pa.s.sing over his horrid features--"here is the very man of all men upon earth, whom I most desired to see. Sydney, you are welcome."
"What d.a.m.nable villainy have you been at now?" demanded Frank, recovering his courage and presence of mind, altho" he had reason to believe that he had fallen into the power of his worst enemy in the world.
"What business is that of yours?" growled the Dead Man--"Suffice it for you to know that my _next_ act of villainy will be your a.s.sa.s.sination."
Our hero drew a revolver from his pocket, and levelled it at the villain"s head, saying--