English fiction -- 19th century; Horror tales; Penny dreadfuls
PHILLIP REDGILL CONTINUES TO PLAY HIS GAME OF VILLANY—HE DETERMINES
TO MARRY AN HEIRESS—THE DISCOVERY OF FALSE NOTES IN THE MONEY-SAFE
AT THE INDIA HOUSE—CHARLEY’S REMORSE AND CONFESSION—“LET NOT THE
INNOCENT SUFFER FOR THE GUILTY.”
One would have thought that such ill success in his system of villany
in thus becoming the slave of Captain Jack would have been a very
practical, as it certainly was a very expensive lesson to young
Redgill, seeing that he had agreed to pay the great thief-taker five
thousand pounds for his silence. Yet, instead of cooling, it only
seemed to irritate Phillip, and to such a degree, that he was not
sober one day for a whole week after his interview with the renowned
thief-taker; but, nevertheless, bore up under his losses with the
airs of an honest millionaire.
His father was rich, every one said, and had ships at sea, which,
laden with teas and silks, were on their way from China.
“The old man won’t be nice to a thousand or two when they arrive.
Why, old Sir Andrew’s office has insured them for five hundred
thousand pounds, so their cargoes _must_ be worth a trifle! Go
a-head, father! make all the cash you can—_I’ll_ manage to spend it
for you when you drop off the books.”
It was certainly true that Mr. Redgill, senior, had extensive
dealings on ’Change, for in the single item of two ships homeward
bound he held insurance policies for not less, as we have said, than
five hundred thousand pounds.
“What a good thing it would be if young Redgill could manage to marry
my only daughter, Fanny! I’d see if it _can’t_ be done,” thought
the miserly old Sir Andrew. “It would be a capital match! But I see
a great many fond parents have the same idea in regard to _their_
daughters, judging from the endless invitations to balls, &c.,
Phillip is continually receiving. He’ll be a fine ‘catch’ for some
one. I’ll see what can be done in that matter, and consult with ‘my
lady.’”
Old Sir Andrew’s consultation with “his lady” was so far successful
that Phillip and Fanny were soon on most excellent terms; but as she
was “anything but a beauty,” even when assisted by paints, flowers,
silks, and false hair, many gallants about town, of inquisitive turn
of mind, were unable to imagine the reasons which had determined so
good-looking a young man as Phillip Redgill to pay such strict court
to her.
The truth was that Phillip wanted “money,” and was greatly
embarrassed.
He even desired the match, hoping thus to draw heavily both on _her_
father and _his own_!
But, although he pressed his suit with much ardour, the intended
marriage was always postponed at Redgill, senior’s, request.
But if Mr. Phillip Redgill could withstand his losses and
disappointments in his career of crime with so much equanimity of
temper, and even propose to himself matrimony as a solace for all his
losses, it was not so with Charley Warbeck.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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