Mr Dennis having despatched this piece of business without anypersonal hurt or inconvenience, and having now retired into thetranquil respectability of private life, resolved to solace himselfwith half an hour or so of female society. With this amiablepurpose in his mind, he bent his steps towards the house whereDolly and Miss Haredale were still confined, and whither Miss Miggshad also been removed by order of Mr Simon Tappertit.
As he walked along the streets with his leather gloves claspedbehind him, and his face indicative of cheerful thought andpleasant calculation, Mr Dennis might have been likened unto afarmer ruminating among his crops, and enjoying by anticipation thebountiful gifts of Providence. Look where he would, some heap ofruins afforded him rich promise of a working off; the whole townappeared to have been ploughed and sown, and nurtured by mostgenial weather; and a goodly harvest was at hand.
Having taken up arms and resorted to deeds of violence, with thegreat main object of preserving the Old Bailey in all its purity,and the gallows in all its pristine usefulness and moral grandeur,it would perhaps be going too far to assert that Mr Dennis had everdistinctly contemplated and foreseen this happy state of things.
He rather looked upon it as one of those beautiful dispensationswhich are inscrutably brought about for the behoof and advantage ofgood men. He felt, as it were, personally referred to, in thisprosperous ripening for the gibbet; and had never consideredhimself so much the pet and favourite child of Destiny, or lovedthat lady so well or with such a calm and virtuous reliance, inall his life.
As to being taken up, himself, for a rioter, and punished with the rest, Mr Dennis dismissed that possibility from his thoughts as anidle chimera; arguing that the line of conduct he had adopted atNewgate, and the service he had rendered that day, would be morethan a set-off against any evidence which might identify him as amember of the crowd. That any charge of companionship which mightbe made against him by those who were themselves in danger, wouldcertainly go for nought. And that if any trivial indiscretion onhis part should unluckily come out, the uncommon usefulness of hisoffice, at present, and the great demand for the exercise of itsfunctions, would certainly cause it to be winked at, and passedover. In a word, he had played his cards throughout, with greatcare; had changed sides at the very nick of time; had delivered uptwo of the most notorious rioters, and a distinguished felon toboot; and was quite at his ease.
Saving--for there is a reservation; and even Mr Dennis was notperfectly happy--saving for one circumstance; to wit, the forcibledetention of Dolly and Miss Haredale, in a house almost adjoininghis own. This was a stumbling-block; for if they were discoveredand released, they could, by the testimony they had it in theirpower to give, place him in a situation of great jeopardy; and toset them at liberty, first extorting from them an oath of secrecyand silence, was a thing not to be thought of. It was more, perhaps, with an eye to the danger which lurked in this quarter,than from his abstract love of conversation with the sex, that thehangman, quickening his steps, now hastened into their society,cursing the amorous natures of Hugh and Mr Tappertit with greatheartiness, at every step he took.
When be entered the miserable room in which they were confined,Dolly and Miss Haredale withdrew in silence to the remotest corner.
But Miss Miggs, who was particularly tender of her reputation,immediately fell upon her knees and began to scream very loud,crying, "What will become of me!"--"Where is my Simmuns!"--"Havemercy, good gentlemen, on my sex"s weaknesses!"--with other dolefullamentations of that nature, which she delivered with greatpropriety and decorum.
"Miss, miss," whispered Dennis, beckoning to her with hisforefinger, "come here--I won"t hurt you. Come here, my lamb, willyou?"
On hearing this tender epithet, Miss Miggs, who had left offscreaming when he opened his lips, and had listened to himattentively, began again, crying: "Oh I"m his lamb! He says I"mhis lamb! Oh gracious, why wasn"t I born old and ugly! Why was I ever made to be the youngest of six, and all of "em dead and intheir blessed graves, excepting one married sister, which issettled in Golden Lion Court, number twenty-sivin, second bell-handle on the--!"
"Don"t I say I an"t a-going to hurt you?" said Dennis, pointing toa chair. "Why miss, what"s the matter?"
"I don"t know what mayn"t be the matter!" cried Miss Miggs,clasping her hands distractedly. "Anything may be the matter!"
"But nothing is, I tell you," said the hangman. "First stop thatnoise and come and sit down here, will you, chuckey?"
The coaxing tone in which he said these latter words might havefailed in its object, if he had not accompanied them with sundrysharp jerks of his thumb over one shoulder, and with divers winksand thrustings of his tongue into his cheek, from which signals thedamsel gathered that he sought to speak to her apart, concerningMiss Haredale and Dolly. Her curiosity being very powerful, andher jealousy by no means inactive, she arose, and with a great dealof shivering and starting back, and much muscular action among allthe small bones in her throat, gradually approached him.
"Sit down," said the hangman.
Suiting the action to the word, he thrust her rather suddenly andprematurely into a chair, and designing to reassure her by a littleharmless jocularity, such as is adapted to please and fascinatethe sex, converted his right forefinger into an ideal bradawl orgimlet, and made as though he would screw the same into her side-whereatMiss Miggs shrieked again, and evinced symptoms offaintness.
"Lovey, my dear," whispered Dennis, drawing his chair close tohers. "When was your young man here last, eh?"
"MY young man, good gentleman!" answered Miggs in a tone ofexquisite distress.
"Ah! Simmuns, you know--him?" said Dennis.
"Mine indeed!" cried Miggs, with a burst of bitterness--and as shesaid it, she glanced towards Dolly. "MINE, good gentleman!"
This was just what Mr Dennis wanted, and expected.