Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 8, January, 1851Various
General
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 8, January, 1851
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Civilization -- Periodicals; Culture -- Periodicals
It was some time, on partially recovering my senses, before I could
realize either what had occurred or the situation in which I found
myself. Gradually, however, the incidents attending the
artfully-prepared treachery of Madame Jaubert grew into distinctness,
and I pretty well comprehended my present position. I was lying at the
bottom of a cart, blindfolded, gagged, handcuffed, and covered over by
what, from their smell, seemed to be empty corn sacks. The vehicle, was
moving at a pretty rapid rate, and judging from the roar and tumult
without, through one of the busiest thoroughfares of London. It was
Saturday evening; and I thought, from the character of the noises,
and the tone of a clock just chiming ten, that we were in
Tottenham-court-road. I endeavored to rise, but found, as I might have
expected, that it was impossible to do so; my captors having secured me
to the floor of the cart by strong cords. There was nothing for it,
therefore, but patience and resignation; words easily pronounced, but
difficult, under such circumstances, to realize in practice. My
thoughts, doubtless in consequence of the blows I had received, soon
became hurried and incoherent. A tumultuous throng of images swept
confusedly past, of which the most constant and frequent were the faces
of my wife and youngest child, whom I had kissed in his sleep just
previous to leaving home. Madame Jaubert and James Martin were also
there; and ever and anon the menacing countenance of Levasseur stooped
over me with a hideous expression, and I felt as if clutched in the
fiery grasp of a demon. I have no doubt that the voice which sounded in
my ear at the moment I was felled to the ground must have suggested the
idea of the Swiss--faintly and imperfectly as I caught it. This tumult
of brain only gradually subsided as the discordant uproar of the
streets--which no doubt added to the excitement I was suffering under by
suggesting the exasperating nearness of abundant help which could not be
appealed to--died gradually away into a silence only broken by the
rumble of the cart-wheels, and the subdued talk of the driver and his
companions, of whom there appeared to be two or three. At length the
cart stopped, I heard a door unlocked and thrown open, and a few moments
afterward I was dragged from under the corn-sacks, carried up three
flights of stairs, and dropped brutally upon the floor till a light
could be procured. Directly one was brought, I was raised to my feet,
placed upright against a wooden partition, and staples having been
driven into the paneling, securely fastened in that position, with cords
passed through them, and round my armpits. This effected, an
authoritative voice--the now distinct recognition of which thrilled me
with dismay--ordered that I should be unblinded. It was done; and when
my eyes became somewhat accustomed to the suddenly dazzling light and
glare, I saw Levasseur and the clerk Dubarle standing directly in front
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