Pelham — CompleteLytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
History
Pelham — Complete
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
Adventure stories; English fiction -- 19th century; Great Britain -- History -- 19th century -- Fiction
“The man,” he said, “I have known for some time; he was useful to me
abroad, and, notwithstanding his character, I rewarded him well for his
services. He has since applied to me several times for money, which is
spent at the gambling-house as soon as it is obtained. I believe him to
be leagued with a gang of sharpers of the lowest description; and I
am really unwilling any farther to supply the vicious necessities of
himself and his comrades. He is a mean, mercenary rascal, who would
scruple at no enormity, provided he was paid for it!”
Glanville paused for a few moments, and then added, while his cheek
blushed, and his voice seemed somewhat hesitating and embarrassed--“You
remember Mr. Tyrrell, at Paris?”
“Yes,” said I--“he is, at present, in London, and--” Glanville started
as if he had been shot.
“No, no,” he exclaimed, wildly--“he died at Paris, from want--from
starvation.”
“You are mistaken,” said I; “he is now Sir John Tyrrell, and possessed
of considerable property. I saw him myself, three weeks ago.”
Glanville, laying his hand upon my arm, looked in my face with a long,
stern, prying gaze, and his cheek grew more ghastly and livid with every
moment. At last he turned, and muttered something between his teeth; and
at that moment the door opened, and Thornton was announced. Glanville
sprung towards him and seized him by the throat!
“Dog!” he cried, “you have deceived me--Tyrrell lives!”
“Hands off!” cried the gamester, with a savage grin of defiance--“hands
off! or, by the Lord that made me, you shall have gripe for gripe!”
“Ho, wretch!” said Glanville, shaking him violently, while his worn
and slender, yet still powerful frame, trembled with the excess of his
passion; “dost thou dare to threaten me!” and with these words he flung
Thornton against the opposite wall with such force, that the blood
gushed out of his mouth and nostrils. The gambler rose slowly, and
wiping the blood from his face, fixed his malignant and fiery eye upon
his aggressor, with an expression of collected hate and vengeance, that
made my very blood creep.
“It is not my day now,” he said, with a calm, quiet, cold voice, and
then, suddenly changing his manner, he approached me with a sort of bow,
and made some remark on the weather.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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