The Mysteries of London, v. 3/4Reynolds, George W. M. (George William MacArthur)
General
The Mysteries of London, v. 3/4
Reynolds, George W. M. (George William MacArthur)
London (England) -- Fiction; Penny dreadfuls
"In less than an hour I stood in the felons' dock at the police-court,
Bow Street, charged with a robbery committed by me in Bloomsbury Square,
in the disguise of a sweep. I was remanded for a week, and sent in the
meantime to Clerkenwell Prison. There I was placed in No. 12, Reception
Yard, where Mrs. Bunce, who pretended to be my aunt in order to get
admittance to me, visited me in the afternoon. She told me that Mr.
Bones could not possibly come to see me, but that he would do all he
could for me if I remained staunch and did not mention his name in any
way—not even to my fellow-prisoners. 'We are afraid that you will be
committed for trial,' said Mrs. Bunce; 'but all shall be done that can
be done to buy off the witnesses. If that won't succeed, such evidence
of former good character shall be given, that your sentence will be a
light one; and in the meantime you shall have as much money as you want
to live gloriously in prison. Mr. Bones has sent you up a sovereign for
the present, and I will bring you a good suit of clothes to-morrow, so
that you may go up swell before the beak next time. Be staunch, Jacob;
and Mr. Bones will never desert you. But if you only mention his name to
a soul in an improper way, he'll leave you to your fate, and you'll be
transported.'—Mrs. Bunce impressed all this on my mind; but I assured
her it was unnecessary, as I knew that I should not better my own plight
in any very considerable degree by nosing against Bones, whereas he
might be useful to me if I behaved well in the matter. She went away
satisfied; and I spent the rest of the day in jollification with my
fellow-prisoners, amongst whom my money raised me to the rank of a
hero.[19]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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