Hunted Down: The Detective Stories of Charles Dickens

sleet and slush lay inches deep in the streets. I could get no conveyance, and was soon wet to the knees; but

The name, MR. ALFRED BECKWITH, was painted on the outer door. On the door opposite, on the same landing, the name MR. JULIU

reat disorder; there was a strong prevailing smell of opium, brandy, and tobacco; the grate and fire-irons were splashed all over with unsightly blotches of rust; and on a sofa by the fire

— Halloa! Julius Caesar! Come and drink!’ As he hoarsely roared this out, he beat the poker

e, and he came in. He had not expected the pleasure of meeting me. I have seen several artful

lius keeps me plied with liquor, morning, noon, and night. Julius is a real benefactor. Julius threw the tea and coffee out of window when I used to have

on of weeks, — and Beckwith, rolling and staggering between us as if he were going to plun

aesar! Come! Do your usual

and to check him. He reeled back to the sofa, and sat there panting, shaking, and red-eyed, in his rags of dressing-gown, looking at us both. I no

ime, ‘I thank you for interfering between me and this unfortunate man’s violence. However you

andy,’ mutte

ow how I came there, I said, quietl

at me, and I lo

ful to her best friend. She left me without a word of notice or explanation. She

led by a designing rascal. I

ure of tha

ui

st, Julius Caesar. Do your usual office, — provide the us

rom him to me, and he said, a

of the world, and so am I.

’t,’ said I, s

ir, I will be

I. ‘I know all about you. YOU plai

e with you Office-gentlemen. But you will not do it, sir; you will not succeed. You have not an easy adversary to play against, when you play against me. We shall have to inquire, in due time, when and

fter it. Slinkton put his hands up, half blinded with the spirit, and cut with the glass across the forehead. At the sound of the breakage, a fourt

I saw that in the doing of it, a tremendous change came over him, occasioned by the change in Beckwith, — who ceased to pant and tremble, sat uprigh

had seen him first. Your plot has been known to both of us, all along, and you have been counter-plotted all along. What? Having been cajoled into putting that prize of two thousand pounds in your power, I was to be done to death with brandy, and, brandy not proving quick enough, with something

t there is no greater mistake than to suppose that a man who is a calculating criminal, is, in any phase of his guilt, otherwise than true to himself, and perfectly consistent with his whole character. Such a man commits murder, and murder is the natural culmination of his course; such a man has to outface murder

, and showed a defiance that was sufficiently cold and quiet. He was white, he was haggard, he was chang

you on to the scheme that I knew my appearance and supposed character and habits would suggest to such a devil, how did I know that? Because you were no stranger to me. I kne

uff-box, took a pinch

to watch him and to ply him, by outbidding you in his bribe, before he had been at his work three days — with whom you have observed no caution, yet who was so bent on ridding the earth of you as a wild beast, that he would have defeated you if you had been ever so prudent — that drunkard whom you have, many a time, left on the floor of this room, and who has even let

y let it drop from between his fingers to the floor; where he n

cks, his test for all your poisons, his clue to your cipher-writing. He can tell you, as well as you can tell him, how long it took to complete that deed, what doses there were, what intervals, what signs of gradual decay upon mind and body; what distempered fancies were

action of his foot, a

. ‘Not in the drawer of the writing-desk that opens with a

e a thief!’

rrific even to me to contemplate, and from the power of which I had always f

ur niece’s s

and flung it to the ground. It was the end of the smooth walk; he destroy

lose, with the poor confiding girl. When I had the diary, and could read it word by word, — it was only about the night before your last visit to Scarborough, — you remember the night? you sl

ery curious way, — as one of the meaner reptiles might, looking for a hole to hide in. I noticed at the same time, that a singular chang

one man, and why, when the whole interest that Mr. Sampson represents would have expended any money in hunting you down, you

other changes, a sudden stop

the grave, it fell to Meltham’s lot to see her and to speak with her. It did not fall to his lot to save her, though I know he would freely give his own life to have done it. He admired her; — I would say he loved her deeply,

ise and fall convulsively; but

h his utmost fidelity and earnestness, and if he divided the sacred duty with no other duty in life, as he was certain that in achieving it he would be a poor instru

ld not have shown more emphatic signs of being oppressed at heart and labouring for breath

l see me once again in the body, when you are tried for your life. You shall see me once a

d. At the same instant, the room was filled with a new and powerful odour, and, almost at the same instant, he broke into a crooked run

he fitting

away from the room, and Meltham, givin

rth, my friend. But I shal

saved her, he said; he had not saved her, and he reproac

othing now to hold me to life. I am not fit for life; I am weak

d so differently impressed me when his purpose was before him. I used such entreaties with him, as I could; but he

unhappy regrets; and he left all he had to her sister. She lived to be a happy wife and mother; she married my sister’s son, w

The End<