"I now, then, warn you to think no more of that child, old man," said the Earl; "for he is already beyond the reach of your vile aims—and, even were he not, I would protect him. You see that all your atrocity—all your intriguing—all your black wickedness does not invariably conduct you to the goal of success. But moral lessons are thrown away on such as you. We will therefore terminate this scene as speedily as possible." Then, turning to his domestics, he added, "You will repair into the store-rooms of this house, and you will so destroy and ruin all the rich garments and the larger articles which are there piled up, that they will become comparatively valueless. The jewellery you will convey into the subterranean; and all those trinkets you will throw into the sewer, to which there is an opening from one of the dungeons. Jacob, you will guide my servants in this task."
"No, Jacob—Jacob!" exclaimed Mrs. Bunce hysterically: "have nothing to do with a business which——"
"Silence—silence, I command you!" growled Old Death, turning a savage glance upon the woman, and then fixing a look of demoniac hatred upon the lad, who was already leading the servants into the adjoining rooms.
Mrs. Bunce remained quiet, in obedience to the order she received from Old Death.
"And now relative to these houses—this, and the one in Turnmill Street?" said the nobleman. "Whose property are they?"
"They are my own freehold," responded Bones,—"bought with my money, long, long ago. But you will not——"
"I will not rob you," interrupted the Earl emphatically. "Where are the papers proving your title to the possession of this freehold?"
"In the iron-safe, in one of the store-rooms."
The nobleman quitted the laboratory, but presently returned, saying in a tone of authority, "The key of that safe!"
"It is here—here, in my pocket," muttered the arch-villain. "But my hands are bound——"