[figure description] Page 204.[end figure description]

The coachman who drove Ruth and the music-master
to the residence of the so-called Mrs.
Blazonby was, as the reader may have suspected,
no other than Bangs. Depositing them at
the door, he walked his horses as far as Broadway,
and stopped before a small shop in the
vicinity of one of the minor theatres, where
there were placards at the windows with such
inscriptions as “Tom and Jerry;” “Milk
Punch;” “Sherry Cobblers;” “Mint Juleps;”
with various other mysterious titles, the precise
meaning of which was known only to initiated
topers.

Bangs was even at that moment under the influence
of strong drink; but the vampire intemperance
within him continued to cry “Give,
give!” Tying the reins to one of the iron arms
of his coach-seat, he attempted to jump to the
sidewalk; but, in the act, his foot caught in
the tightened reins, and he was thrown with
violence to the ground, his head striking against
the curbstone. He did not rise again of his own
strength. Some humane passers-by, among
whom was young Maverick, bore him to a neighbouring
shop. Doctor Remington was immediately
sent for, and he pronounced the wound

[figure description] Page 205.[end figure description]

fatal. It was impossible that the unhappy man
could live another hour.

“What! Will the frolic be over so soon, doctor?”
asked the drunkard, suddenly lifting his
head.

Till this question, every one had supposed
that the sufferer was totally unconscious.

“I think,” replied the doctor, “that if you
have any directions you would like to give—any
unsettled business upon your mind that concerns
your family, if you have a family—you
would better speak now.”

“I understand—you think he is at the end of
his last heat: he'll balk you, doctor—there's
some fun left in him yet. Ha, ha, ha! Go it,
Ned! She's young, and fair, and tender—is she
not? a rich prize for the old soul-trapper! By
this time she is yours. At Blazonby's she is
as safe as she could be in the hottest abode of
fiends.”

“He raves,” said the doctor, turning to one
of the gentlemen near.

“If I mistake not, there is some meaning in
his madness,” whispered young Maverick, who,
with a lawyer's practised alertness of apprehension,
had detected a purport in the wild words
of the dying man. “Hark! he speaks again.”

“But the money, Ned! the money! Where
is that? The job must be well paid for. It
was black and tough. So hand over. Ha! you
think that death settles all accounts—that a dying
man can't claim his own. Not so, Ned!
not so!”

“Tell me where Ned is to be found, and I

[figure description] Page 206.[end figure description]

will run and get you the money,” whispered
Maverick in the madman's ear. “But I fear
you have not strength to tell me, and that you
must die without getting your dues.”

Bangs stared wildly at his questioner a moment,
and, motioning him to place his ear near
his lips, whispered something that was not
heard by the rest of the spectators. Then, with
a hollow laugh, he cried out, “Ha, ha! Now I
am even with you, Ned! If my fun is to be
spoiled, yours shall be too. Oh!”

A deep, tremulous groan succeeded this exclamation,
and, after a violent paroxysm, the
drunkard, in tones of anguish, ejaculated,
“Blasted be the hand that brewed that last
draught! Accursed be those whose example
has made me the fiend I am! Can it be that I
was once a little child! Yes, I remember it
well; and the old poplar-trees, and the haymow,
and the schoolhouse on the hill! Why
madden me with these things! Am I not tortured
enough already? No! they are coming!
I feel their hot breath! Not yet! not yet! Ah!
save me! save me!”

The conjurations of a violated conscience
seemed to glare like spectres into his soul.
He started wildly from the couch on which he
had been laid. Not even the strength of four
men could restrain him. He staggered, with
frantic horror in his looks, across the floor, as
if escaping from some terrible pursuer, tossed
his arms fiercely in the air, and fell dead.

“What a lesson to evil-doers is this!” said
an old man who was present.

[figure description] Page 207.[end figure description]

“I will sign the Temperance pledge this very
night!” murmured a youth who had taken a
glass of brandy and water an hour or two before.

“Gentlemen,” said Mr. Maverick, “I beg
you to accompany me, without delay, to a house
indicated to me by the dying man, where, from
some words that he dropped, I fear there is an
innocent girl in durance.”

“We will all follow you!” said the persons
present.

Maverick at once led the way to the abode
of Mrs. Blazonby. The timely consequence of
his visit has been already shown.

Shortly after the party had burst into the room
where Ruth stood with her persecutor, Monsieur
Mallet arrived, overwhelmed with indignation
at the trick that had been played upon
him. No such person as Von Steinbach could
be found! But when the good Frenchman was
apprized of the extent of the danger in which
his little pupil had been, and into which he himself
had been unwittingly made the instrument
of drawing her, his Gallic fury knew no bounds.
It seemed as if he would chaw up Mr. Edward
Dangleton into very small pieces. As for Mrs.
Blazonby, it was found that she and every one
of the inmates of her house had decamped by
the back door at the moment of the first alarm.

There was a question among Ruth's rescuers
as to what course should be taken with regard
to Mr. Dangleton. The ends of justice seemed
to demand his arrest; but, as Ruth could not
swear that he had done anything more than use
violent and menacing language, he was, at her
solicitation, permitted to depart in peace.

[figure description] Page 208.[end figure description]

A carriage was now ordered, and Ruth and
the Frenchman, accompanied by Doctor Remington
and Mr. Maverick, drove to the lodgings
of the former. The doctor was surprised at
finding Ruth's brother in his young friend Arthur.
He blamed him a little, however, for not
sending for him to prescribe in his sickness.
Arthur vindicated himself by maintaining that
Ruth's nursing was the best of medicines—not
that he meant any disrespect to the apothecaries.
The doctor replied by laughing, and admitting
that Arthur was more than half right.

While the gentlemen were conversing with
May and the boys, Ruth was called to the door
to see Mrs. Bangs, who handed her a file of papers
tied with red tape. Calvin, she said, in
repairing the desk, had discovered a false bottom,
between which and the lower one the
package had been found.

Ruth's thoughts immediately recurred to the
dying moments of her father, and to his ineffectual
efforts to communicate some information
to her in regard to the position of papers
relating to her mother's family. She eagerly
glanced at the papers in her hand, and discovered
that the conjecture which had arisen in her
mind was correct. Her mother's marriage certificate,
letters addressed to old Mr. Gordon
and returned, a register of the dates of the
children's births, and several other important
documents, were found in the parcel. Clasping
them tightly to her bosom, Ruth went into the
chamber of her brothers.

“What have you there, Ruth?” asked Arthur.

[figure description] Page 209.[end figure description]