ly the score might be satisfied. The mob had now very much
increased. There was a panic among the women, and indignation among the
men: a Hell-cat advanced and announced that unless the tommy books were
all given up to be burnt, they would pull down the house. There was no
reply: some of the Hell-cats advanced; the women cheered; a crowbar fell
upon the door; Master Joseph fired, wounded a woman and killed a child.

There rose one of those universal shrieks of wild passion which announce
that men have discarded all the trammels of civilization, and found in
their licentious rage new and unforseen sources of power and vengeance.
Where it came from, how it was obtained, who prompted the thought, who
first accomplished it, were alike impossible to trace; but as it were
in a moment, a number of trusses of straw were piled up before the
house and set on fire, the gates of the timber-yard were forced, and a
quantity of scantlings and battens soon fed the flame. Everything indeed
that could stimulate the fire was employed; and every one was occupied
in the service. They ran to the water side and plundered the barges, and
threw the huge blocks of coal upon the enormous bonfire. Men, women, and
children were alike at work with the eagerness and energy of fiends. The
roof of the house caught fire: the dwelling burned rapidly; you could
see the flames like the tongues of wild beasts, licking the bare and
vanishing walls; a single being was observed amid the fiery havoc,
shrieking and desperate he clung convulsively to a huge account book, It
was Master Joseph. His father had made his escape from the back of the
premises and had counselled his son instantly to follow him, but Master
Joseph wished to rescue the ledger as well as their lives, and the delay
ruined him.

"He has got the tommy book," cried Liza Gray.

The glare of the clear flame fell for a moment upon his countenance of
agony; the mob gave an infernal cheer; then some part of the building
falling in, there rose a vast cloud of smoke and rubbish, and he was
seen no more.

Book 6 Chapter 8

"Life's a tumbleabout thing of ups and downs," said Widow Carey
stirring her tea, "but I have been down this time longer than I can ever
remember."

"Nor ever will get up, Widow," said Julia at whose lodgings herself and
several of Julia's friends had met, "unless we have the Five Points."

"I will never marry any man who is not for the Five Points," said
Caroline.