Authors: George W. M. Reynolds,James Malcolm Rymer
was producing a favourable
result; and yesterday he intimated to me by another letter that the
mode
alluded to had proved completely
successful."
"What course do you now intend to pursue?"
demanded Tomlinson, who began to suspect the manner in which his services were
to be made available.
"I immediately communicated the important contents of
this second letter to Greenwood," continued Chichester, "and he
recommended me to apply to you to aid me in completing the business. My wife
now sees her folly, and is willing to devote one half of her property - namely,
eight thousand pounds, to the use and purposes of her lawful husband; and I am
generous enough to be satisfied with that sum, instead of insisting upon having
the whole."
"I understand you," said Tomlinson: "you
require a stock-broker to effect the transfer of eight thousand pounds from the
name of your wife into your own name."
"And to sell out the amount when so transferred,"
added Chichester.
"It will be necessary for me to obtain the signature of
your wife to a certain paper," observed Tomlinson.
"Greenwood has told me all this. In one word, will you
accompany me to the asylum where my wife is confined, and obtain her
signature?"
"If she be willing to give it, I am willing to receive
it -
as a matter of business
," answered Tomlinson. "But, are you sure - in a word,
what guarantee have you that she will not denounce the whole proceeding to the
officers of justice - rally her friends around her - appeal to the law - and
punish every one concerned in the business?"
"Listen. The document which she agrees to sign is a
general power on my behalf over eight thousand pounds in the Bank of England:
this power will be dated two months back - a month after our marriage. We must
be supposed to have called at your office on a particular day at that period, on
which occasion she signed the power in your presence. It being a general power
of transfer, it would not seem extraordinary that I did not use it until now -
that is, two months after it was given. This night must she sign the deed:
to-morrow you must transfer and sell out the money. Then tomorrow night, she
shall be conveyed back to the house at Cambridge Heath. The two servants whom
we keep are bribed to my interest: they are ready, in case of need, to prove
the existence of those symptoms of insanity which justified the certificates of
the surgeons and the restraint under which my wife has been placed. How, then,
can she do us an injury? If she proclaim her '
wrongs
' -as she may call
them, you can prove that the power of transfer could not have been extorted
from her in a mad-house, as it was signed two months ago at your office! Then,
if she were to speak of the
mode of treatment
adopted by the keeper of that mad-house to curb her haughty
spirit, the accusation would be indignantly denied ; and her statements would
be set down to a disordered imagination, and
would justify further restraint
. Be you well assured, that she
will never say or do any thing that may endanger her liberty again! No - the
fact is simply this' we divide the property, and separate for ever. She will be
glad to get rid of a husband like me: I shall not be sorry to dissolve - as far
as we can dissolve it - a connexion with a woman of her mean, griping, and
avaricious disposition."
"This is Greenwood's scheme throughout," said
Tomlinson. "No other man living could plot such admirable combinations to
effect a certain object, without danger to any one."
"Do you consent to act in this matter, on consideration
of retaining for yourself five hundred pounds of the money which you will have
to transfer and sell out to-morrow?"
"I do consent," replied Tomlinson, after a few
moments' reflection, during which he muttered to himself, "
Make money -
honestly, if you can; but, at all events, make money
."
"To-night-at ten o'clock, will you come to me at my
house at Cambridge Heath?" inquired Chichester.
"I will," was the answer. "But let me ask you
one question ;-what excuse have you made to your wife's friends for this
absence of three weeks?"
"In the first place," said Chichester, "her
only relations consist of a sister and this sister's husband at
Stratford-le-Bow; and they are so immersed in the cares of business, that they
have not called once at Cambridge Heath ever since our marriage. Secondly, my
wife always lived in a very retired manner, and has very few acquaintances or
friends besides my father's family. It was therefore easy to satisfy the one or
two persons who
did
call, with the excuse that Mrs.
Chichester had gone on a short visit to some relatives in the country."
"And you feel convinced your precautions are so wisely
taken, that she will never open her lips relative to the past?" said
Tomlinson.
"
I am confident that she will not breathe a word
that may lead to her return to the place where she now is,
" answered
Chichester, with a significant look and emphatic solemnity of tone.
"Then I will not hesitate to serve you in this
business," said Tomlinson. "To-night-at ten o'clock."
"To-night-at ten o'clock," repeated Chichester and
with these words he departed.
When he was gone, Tomlinson paced his office in an agitated
manner.
"The die is cast - I am now about to plunge into
crime!" he said. " And yet how could I avoid - how could I long
procrastinate this step? These mean tricks - these dishonourable dealings -
these deceptive schemes in which we brokers are com -
pelled to near a part, only serve to prepare the way for more
daring and more criminal pursuits. Five hundred pounds at one stroke! That is a
little fortune to a man, struggling against the world, like me! Four hundred
will I pay to Greenwood - the other hundred will swell my little account at the
bankers'; for who can hope to do any extent of business in this city without a
good name at his bankers'?"
Tomlinson ceased, and sate down calm and collected. Alas!
how easy is it to reason oneself into a belief of the existence of a necessity
for pursuits of dishonesty or crime!
The clerk entered the private office, and said, "Sir,
there is a person, who refuses to give his name, waiting to speak to you."
"Let him come in," replied Tomlinson.
The clerk ushered in a man of cadaverous countenance, bushy
brows, and large whiskers, and who was dressed in a suit of black.
"Your business, sir? " said the stock-broker, who
did not much like the appearance of his visitor.
"Your name's Tomlinson?" remarked the man, coolly
taking a chair.
"Yes. What would you with me?"
" James Tomlinson," continued the man, referring
to a scrap of paper, which he took from his waistcoat pocket, " late
banker in Lombard Street?"
"The same," said Tomlinson, impatiently.
"Then I took it down right, although he did speak in
such a confused manner," observed the man, muttering rather to himself
than to Mr. Tomlinson.
"What do you mean?" demanded the stock-broker.
"I mean that there's a person who wants to set
you," answered the stranger. "I don't know that I'm exactly right in
saying
wants
,
because he is in such a state that he can neither want nor care about any
thing. At the same time, I think it would be as well if you was to see
him.
"
"Who is this person?" cried Tomlinson.
"A man that seems to know you well enough, if I can
understand his ravings."
"Ravings!" repeated the stock-broker, already
influenced by a slight misgiving.
"Ravings, indeed! and enough to make him rave! To be
laid out as dead for four days, then put in a coffin, buried, and be had up
again within
ten or a dozen hours:- if that wouldn't make a man rave - what the
devil would?"
"Have the goodness to explain yourself. Every word you
utter is an enigma to me."
"But it wasn't an enigma to my poor friend when the
stiff 'un suddenly put a cold hand upon his. However, in two words, do you know
a person called Michael Martin?"
"Michael Martin!" cried the stock-broker.
"Speak- what has become of him?"
"He has been ill —"
"Ill! poor old man! and I not to know it!"
"Worse than that! He died —"
"Died! Where - when?"
"Died - and was buried."
"Trifle not with me. When did he die? where is he
buried?"
"He died - was buried - and came to life again!"
said the stranger, with the most provoking coolness.
"Sir," exclaimed Tomlinson, advancing towards his
visitor, and speaking in a firm and emphatic manner, "if you have called
to tell me any thing concerning Michael Martin, speak without
mystification."
"Well, sir," returned the stranger, "the
plain truth is this:- An old man, without a name, took up his abode in a
by-street in Globe Town some months ago. He was taken ill, and, to all
appearance, died. He was buried. A surgeon fancied him as a subject, and hired
me and a friend of mine to have him up again. We resurrectionized him, and took
him in a cart last night to the surgeon's house. He was conveyed into the
dissecting-room, and stretched on the table. The doctor and I went into the
surgery to settle the expenses; and, in the mean time, my friend was left alone
with the stiff 'un. It seems that a neighbour, suspecting that the surgeon now
and then got a subject for his experiments, saw the cart stop at the door, and
immediately understood what was going on. He went into his garden, which joins
the yard where the dissecting-house stands, and seeing a light in the window of
the dissecting-house, he felt sure that his suspicions were well founded,
although he could not see into the place, because there was a dark blind drawn
down over the window. However, the neighbour was resolved to clear up his
doubts; so he took up a brick-bat, and threw it as hard as he could against the
window. The glass was broken, and the light extinguished. My friend, who was
left alone with the stiff 'un, was somewhat startled at this occurrence; but
how much more was he alarmed when he suddenly felt the body stretch out its
hand and catch hold of one of his?"
"Then Michael Martin was not dead?" ejaculated
Tomlinson, in a tone which expressed alike the tenderness of deep emotion and
also the bitterness of disappointment; for, perhaps, all circumstances
considered, the ex-banker would rather have heard a confirmation of the death,
than an account of the resuscitation of his late clerk.
"No - the old man is not dead. The doctor and myself
were in the surgery, when we heard the smash of the window and the cry of the
Buf— of my friend, I mean."
"Of your brother resurrectionist, I suppose,"
continued Tomlinson, in a tone of ineffable disgust. " Well, go on."
"We went into the dissecting-room with a lamp, and
there we found the light put out, and my comrade insensible on the floor. But
what was more extraordinary still, we saw the corpse gasping for breath. '
He
is not dead
!' cried the surgeon; and in a moment a lancet was stuck into
his arm. The blood would not flow at first, but the surgeon chafed his temples
and hands by turns; and in a few moments the blood trickled out pretty freely.
Mean-time I had recovered my companion, and explained to him the nature
of the phenomenon that had taken place. When he heard the real truth, he was no
longer alarmed, because he knew very well that people are often buried in
a trance. In fact, one night, about eighteen months ago, he and I went to Old
Saint Pancras church-yard to get up a stiff 'un, and when we opened the
coffin, we found that the body had turned completely round on its face; it was,
however, stone dead when we got it up - and never shall I forget what a
countenance it had! But of that no matter."
"Have the goodness to keep to your present
narrative," said Tomlinson, scarcely able to conceal his disgust at the
presence of a resurrectionist - an avowed body-snatcher.
"Well," continued the man with the cadaverous
countenance, "in a very few minutes we completely recovered the old
gentleman. I obeyed all the directions of the surgeon, and ran backwards and
forwards to the pharmacy for God only knows what salts and what ammonia. At
last the subject gave a terrible groan, opened his eyes, and exclaimed, '
Where
am I
?' The surgeon assured him that he was in safety - that he had been
very ill - that he was now much better - and so on. Meantime, by the surgeon's
orders, I had called up his house-keeper, (for he is a bachelor,) and she had
got a bed prepared and warmed, and some hot water ready, and every thing
comfortable. Well, we carried the old gentleman up to bed; the doctor gave him
a little warm brandy and water; and in another half hour, he was able to speak
a few words in a comprehensible manner. But his brain seemed confused, and all
we could learn was that his name was '
Michael Martin
,' and that he raved
after a gentleman, whom he called '
James Tomlinson, the banker.
' "
"Ah! he said that - did he?" cried Tomlinson,
rising, and pacing the room with agitated steps.
"He did," was the reply. "And then we began
to think that we had heard those names before; and, in a few minutes, I - who
know every thing," added the man, fixing his serpent-like eyes upon the
stock-broker with a kind of fiendish leer,- "I," he continued, "
remembered that Michael Martin was the man who had been the cashier in the bank
of Tomlinson and Company, Lombard Street."
"But did he say - did he —" began the stock
broker, gasping for breath,- "did he —"
"He raved - he grew delirious; and in his wanderings,
he said enough to prove that he was not guilty of the breach of trust imputed
to him."
"O God! thy vengeance overtakes me, then, at
last!" cried Tomlinson, sinking, pale and trembling upon a chair.
"He said much - very much," continued the man
whose revelations had thus produced so strange an effect upon James Tomlinson.
" But do not alarm yourself - I am not one to peach; and the doctor
himself is not likely to say any thing that might lead to an awkward inquiry
into the circumstances that brought the old gentleman into his house.
Remember, the law now punishes with transportation those who resurrectionize,
and those who encourage resurrectionists."
"Then you will not betray me?" ejaculated
Tomlinson, a ray of hope animating his countenance.
"Betray you!" echoed
the man, with a contemptuous curl of his lip and a ferocious leer of his eyes, which
gleamed from beneath their bushy brows like those of a hyena from the shade of
an over-hanging brake: "betray you! What good should I get by that? You
know that a reward of three thousand pounds was offered to any one who would
deliver up this Michael Martin; and as a man of sense, you must also understand
that it would not be very convenient for me to go forward and claim this
reward. At the same time, I might talk - or my friend might talk; no one could
prevent that; and such-like idle gossiping would lead to the detection of the
old man. Now you are the best judge whether or not it is worth while to put a
seal upon our lips. We don't want to be hard upon you ;- but, perhaps,"
added the man, interrupting himself, "you had better see the old gentleman
first, and then you will know that I am telling you the truth."
"When can I see him? where is he?" demanded
Tomlinson, almost bewildered by the sudden revelation which had been made to
him concerning Michael Martin.
"You had better put off your visit till dusk," was
the reply; "because I should like to go with you, and the surgeon would
not be very well pleased if I called upon him in the day-time."
"Let it be at dusk, them," said Tomlinson.
"Name your hour."
"I have an engagement between nine and ten o'clock
to-night," returned the stock-broker.
"And so have I," said the visitor. "What
should you say to seven o'clock? It is as dark then as it is at ten or
eleven."
"Seven will suit me well," answered Tomlinson.
"Where shall I meet you?"
"At Bethnal Green New Church - the church that stands
in the Cambridge Road, and faces the Bethnal Green Road," explained the
body-snatcher.
"You can be walking up and down there a few minutes
before seven - I shall not keep you waiting."
"I will be punctual," said Tomlinson. " But -
once more - you will not betray me?"
"Ridiculous!" was the contemptuous reply.
"And this surgeon - will he not be tempted by the
reward to —"
"Do you think he would walk straight into Newgate and
say, '
I am come to be transported for encouraging and employing resurrection
men?
' You need not alarm yourself. Me and my comrade will settle the matter
amicably with you."
The body-snatcher then took his departure.
Tomlinson threw himself back in his chair, pressed both his
hands against his heated forehead, and exclaimed in a tone of despair, "I
have fervently prayed that I might meet my poor old clerk again, and heaven has
granted my request - but merely to punish me for my crimes!"