ng her weakness,
Her evil behaviour!
And leaving, with meekness,
Her sins to her Saviour!

CHAPTER XXIX

_Wherein one of the Characters in this Drama maketh a sudden and rapid
exit from the stage._

In an upper apartment of an old, rickety wooden building in Ann street,
two men were seated at a rough deal table, engaged in smoking long pipes
and discussing the contents of a black bottle. Not to keep the reader in
suspense, we may as well state at once that these two individuals were
no other than our old acquaintances, the Dead Man and the Doctor.

The room was dusky, gloomy, and dirty, with a multitude of cob-webs
hanging from the ceiling, and the broken panes in the windows stuffed
full of rags. The smoke-dried walls were covered with rude inscriptions
and drawings, representing deeds of robbery and murder; and a hanging
scene was not the least prominent of these interesting specimens of the
'fine arts.' The house was a noted resort for thieves, and the old
harridan who kept it was known to the police as a 'fence,' or one who
purchased stolen goods.

'Yes, Doctor,' cried the Dead Man, with an oath, as he slowly removed
the pipe from his lips, and blew a cloud which curled in fantastic
wreaths to the ceiling--'this state of affairs won't answer: we must
have money. And money we _will_ have, this very night, if our spy,
Stuttering Tom, succeeds in finding out where those Franklin ladies
live. The bottle's out--knock for another pint of _lush_.'

The Doctor obeyed, and in answer to the summons an old, wrinkled,
blear-eyed hag made her appearance with the liquor. This old wretch was
the 'landlady' of the house; she had been a celebrated and beautiful
courtezan in her day, but age and vice had done their work, and she was
now an object hideous to look upon. Though tottering upon the verge of
the grave (she was over eighty,) an inordinate love of money, and an
equal partiality for 'the ardent,' were her characteristics; but
stranger than all, the miserable old creature affected still to retain,
undiminished, those amorous propensities which had distinguished her in
her youth! This horrible absurdity made her act in a manner at once
ludicrous and disgusting; and the Dead Man, being facetiously inclined,
resolved to humor her weakness, and enjoy a laugh at her expense by
pretending to have fallen in love with her.

'By Satan!' he cried, clasping the old crone around the waist--'you look
irresisti