027: Will Big Ben end up in a pie? ... Will Highwayman Dick Turpin make it to London? ... the vampire returns! Or does he? ... Spring-Heel'd Jack almost caught ... the beleaguered ballet-girl!

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
A tip top evening to all you hell hounds, hop merchants and
Knights of the brush and Moon. And for all you ungrateful
colonials, Happy National Escargot Day in the old
Colonies. I'm your host, Finn JD John,

(00:28):
known among the Hamlets and bigwigs of your friendly
neighborhood Sessions house as Professor Flash, welcoming you
back to the chafing crib. It's another Saturday night and
that means it's time to Shuck your Flyers, put up your pins,
fill another bumper with good strong black strap, sluice your
ivories, and get ready to load up your knowledge box at the

(00:50):
Penny Dreadful Parish Pump of Prattery, because another rare
noggin of the same is upon us. Like Colonel Bertrand on A
Vulnerable Soul, the Penny Dreadful Story Podcast is the
podcast that carries you back tothe sooty, foggy streets of
early Victorian London when the latest batch of the story papers
hit the streets. Not the fancy ones that cost a

(01:11):
whole shilling, but the cheap, unruly ones that the Biggins and
the Bugaboos call Penny Dreadfuls.
That's right, the good stuff that, like a flicker or two of
shiny new Kill Devil, may be rough, but does the job.
Does a little too well, actually.
But anyway, before we start, I have a quick announcement.
Last week's regular episode clocked in at an hour and 44

(01:35):
minutes, and now, as I sit down to record this week's episode,
I'm not sure that it won't be just as long.
I really think that's too much, especially for a show with hour
in the title. So I've decided to solve this
problem of excessive length by, well, adding a 6th dreadful to
the lineup. Job done, chaps.

(01:56):
You think I'm joking? I'm sure, but I'm not.
The thing is, at the same time Iadd the 6th dreadful, I'm also
splitting the presentation into two episodes per week.
The way this will work is Part 1will come along on Saturday
evening as usual, when we'll have our three 1840s dreadfuls
which came out in the early years of the Story Papers era.
Then the show will be continued 4 nights later with our 318

(02:20):
Sixties dreadfuls, which will come out in a Wednesday evening
show. To make the math come out right
with three episodes per show, I had to add another dreadful.
And actually this is great because it gives me the
opportunity to correct a major oversight that I made when
choosing a lineup of representative dreadfuls for
this show. So I've added The Mysteries of
London by George Reynolds to theSaturday lineup.

(02:43):
Like I said, doing this correctsa fairly obvious gap in our
lineup. The Mysteries of London was a
phenomenon when it came out, andhistorian Louis James calls it,
quote, almost certainly the mostwidely read single work of
fiction in 19th century Britain.So obviously we need to have it
here. And it starts next Saturday with
the prologue in Chapter 1. Meanwhile, here's what we've got

(03:07):
in store for tonight. First up from 1846, we've got
Chapter 50 of The String of Pearls, or The Barber of Fleet
Street by James Malcolm Reimer, in which Johanna Oakley is
forced to take her burly but notoverly smart cousin Big Ben the
Beefeater into her confidence totell him she's dressing in boys
clothes to spy on the barbershopwhere she thinks Mark Aggestry

(03:30):
got murdered. Now what do you think Big Ben is
going to do with this information?
Why, go check it out. By having Sweeney Todd shave
him, of course. How will he survive that?
We'll find out today. Next.
Jumping ahead to 1861, we've gotchapter 12 of Black Bess or The
Knight of the Road by Edward Viles, in which Dick, having

(03:52):
waited for nightfall, is off andaway.
Ellen, the young maiden whom he rescued a few chapters ago from
a fate worse than death and thatmean cat maker lady's DIY
bordello begs him not to go, as the grabs are sure to be hung
away for him, but he pays no heed.
Soon he's off into a thick fog, journeying perhaps to his death.

(04:12):
We shall see then. It's our oldest dreadful.
Well, as of right now, The Mysteries of London is older,
but in this program, Varney the Vampire is our oldest.
Dreadful. And chapter 12 is on the mallet
today, in which poor Charles Holland is struggling with his
feelings. He cannot believe such things as
vampires exist, but if they do, will he soon have a vampire for

(04:35):
a wife? He stares at the mysterious
portrait. What's his significance?
Could there be a secret hidden behind it?
And wait, what's that scratchingat the window?
Could it be? We'll see.
Next we have our newest penny dreadful this season, which is
Spring Heeled Jack, the Terror of London by Alfred Coats, which

(04:56):
started publication in late 1866.
And today we've got Chapter 12. Jack is taking a little breather
after his churchyard caper when he recognizes Ellen Folder, the
poor seamstress who's bundle JoeFilcher filched, hurrying toward
London Bridge, and Jack realizesshe is determined to cast
herself into the black, filthy waters.

(05:17):
Can he save her from the bitter fruit of her temporary madness?
Well, we'll find out several chapters from now, because you
know how Alfred Coats is. He jumps around worse than his
main character. Finally, and also from 1861, we
have chapter 12 of The Black Band or The Companions of
Midnight by Mary Elizabeth Bradden, in which we are finally

(05:40):
going to meet a few characters that we can root for.
Lovely young Clara Melville, a poverty stricken but
aristocratic and lovely young ballet dancer, and her father
Jasper Melville, an impoverishedaristocrat of some sort who
hints at a dark secret and may actually have someone looking
for him. Clara's baby sister is at
death's door with a raging fever.

(06:02):
Suddenly a visitor knocks imperiously at the door.
OK, well, let's get started. But first a word from our
sponsor, Professor Flash's FlashAcademy.
All aspiring out and outers needto be oku ROM to with the Flash
can't on their royster in sprees, right?
Professor Flash's Flash Academy and Star Registry can help.

(06:24):
For 12 monthly payments of two Guineas and a Tanner, you'll be
chaunting along with the highestKnights of the Road, the
sharpest Mace coves, and the snappiest pinks and swells
uncrapped this side of Newgate and Tyburn Tree.
For a limited time, we'll also include clear title to a star,
exoplanet or large asteroid witheach new subscription, courtesy

(06:45):
of our other sponsor, the Intergalactic Star Registry.
We're starting, of course, with Sweeney Todd and The Flash.
Can't word for this reading? Is Fadge.
A Fadge will get you free oysters and a bit of bread on
Fleet Street. Do you know this one?
If not, take a guess. We'll get the full story at the
end of our reading last week in Sweeney Todd.

(07:06):
In Chapter 49, poor Barbara's apprentice Tobias Ragg remained
in a state of temporary insanity.
But after Tobias's dimwitted mother brought his childhood
sweetheart and in a Gray over tosee him, she turned out to be
just the ticket. It now looks like he will make a
full recovery, but will he be able to tell anything that will
shed light on Sweeney Todd's many crimes?

(07:27):
OK, here's today's chapter, Chapter 50.
Chapter 50 Johanna makes a new confidant.
We left the Spectacle Maker and his family rather in a state of
confusion. Big Ben the Beefeater, had had

(07:48):
his revenge on both Misses Oakley and the Saints, and it
was a revenge that really did them no harm, so that in that
respect it had turned out well. The Reverend Josiah Lupin did
not return to the house, but Misses Oakley, in a terrible
state of prostration from the effects of the sickness that had
come over her, staggered again into the parlor.

(08:09):
She looked at Mr. Oakley as she said, if you were half a man you
would take the life of that villain for treating me the way
he has. I have no doubt but that he
meant to take the life of the pious Mr. Lupin, and so add him
to the list of martyrs. My dear, said the spectacle
maker, if Mr. Lupin intrudes himself into my house, and any
friend of mine turns him out, I am very much obliged to him.

(08:34):
Perhaps you would be equally obliged to this monster whom you
call your friend, if he would turn me out.
Mr. Oakley shook his head. As he said, my dear, there are
some burdens which can be got rid of, and some that must be
born. Come, come over, Oakley said.
Ben, don't bear malice. You played me a trick last time
I came here, and now I've playedyou one, that's all.

(08:56):
It wasn't an human nature not todo it.
So don't bear malice. Misses Oakley, if she had been
in a condition to do so, no doubt would have carried on the
war with Big Ben. But she decidedly was not, and
after a shudder or two which looked as though she thought the
toad was beginning a game to oppress her, she rose to leave
the room. Mother, said Johanna, it was not

(09:18):
a real toad. But you are, said Misses Oakley
sharply. You have no more feeling for
your mother than if she were a brick bat.
Feeling now that at all events she had had the last word at
somebody, Misses Oakley made a precipitate retreat, and sought
the consolations and solitude ofher own chamber.
Mr. Oakley was about to make some speech, which he prefaced

(09:40):
with a sigh, when someone cominginto the shop called his
attention, and he left Johanna and Big Ben the Beefeater
together in the parlor. The moment they were alone, Ben
began shaking his head and making some very mysterious
signs which completely mystifiedJohanna.
Indeed, she began to be afraid that Ben's intellect were not
quite right, although an ordinary observer might very

(10:03):
well have supposed there was something the matter with his
nether garments, for he pointed to them repeatedly and shook his
head at Johanna. What is the matter, cousin?
She said. Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, oh, oh,
are you? I'll?
No, but I only wonder as you ain't.
Didn't I see you in Fleet Streetwith these on?
Oh, oh, oh, not exactly these there, but another pair.

(10:26):
These would be a trifle too large for you.
Oh, dear, I may not bled off. See such a young and delicate
little puss as you are taking the weather Thingamese so soon?
Johanna now began to understand what Ben meant, namely that he
had seen her in Fleet St. disguised in male attire with
her young friend Arabella Wilmot.

(10:47):
Oh, Ben, she said, you must not think you'll of me on that
account. But.
But, said Ben rather hesitatingly, as if he were only
putting a doubtful proposition. Wasn't it rather unusual?
Yes, Ben, but there were reasonswhy I put on such garments.
Surely it is better to do that than than to, than to go without
any, said Ben. No, no, I did not say that.

(11:10):
I meant it was better for me to forget a little of that maiden
delicacy which which than to lethim.
She burst into tears hollow. Cried Ben, as he immediately
folded her into an immense embrace that came very near to
smothering her. Don't you cry, and you might
wear what you like, and I'll come and help you put them on.

(11:30):
Come, come, there's a noise. Oh dear, don't you cry.
Lord bless you, You know how fond I am of you, and always
was, since he was a little tottering thing, and couldn't
say my name right. Don't you cry.
You shall wear them as often as you like, and I'll go behind you
in the street, and if anyone so much says Alpha word to you,
I'll be down upon them. Fetch them now, and put them on,

(11:51):
my dear. Johanna must have laughed if her
life had depended upon her gravity, for all that Ben said
upon the subject was uttered with the sheer simplicity of a
kind heart. And well she knew that in his
rough way he doted on her, and thought there was no such
another being in the whole worldas she.
And yet he looked upon her as a child, and the imperceptible

(12:12):
flight of time had made no difference in Ben's ideas
concerning Johanna. She was still to him the sweet
little child he had so often dandled upon his knee, and
brought fruit and sweet meats to, when such things were great
treasures. After a few moments he let her
go, and Johanna was able to drawbreath again.
Then she said, I will tell you all.

(12:33):
All what? How I came to put on the the Oh,
he's here. Very good.
Cut on and let us know all the particulars.
I suppose you felt cold, my dear, eh?
No, no, no. Well, then, tell it quick, for
Roy was always a mortal bad handat guessing.
Your father is fitting an old gentleman with a pair of
spectacles, and he seems odd to please.

(12:55):
So we shall have lots of time. Go on, your good opinion is of
such moment to me, said Johanna,for I have so very few to love
me. Now that you have seen me in
disguise, I should feel unhappy if I did not tell you why I wore
it. Ben lent the most attentive ear
to what she said, and then Johanna briefly and distinctly

(13:16):
told him all the story of Mark and Gestry, and how he had, as
she thought, mysteriously disappeared at the Barber shop
in Fleet Street. It will be seen that she still
clung to the idea that Thornhillof the arrived ship was none
other than her lover. Ben heard her out with the most
fixed attention. His mouth and eyes gradually
opened wider and wider as she proceeded partly from wonder at

(13:37):
the whole affair, and partly from intense admiration at the
way in which she told it, which he thought was better than any
book he had ever read. When she had concluded, Ben
again folded her in his arms, and she had to struggle terribly
to get away. Oh, dear child, he said you are
a prodigy. Why, there's not an animal, as
ever I knew, comes near you. And so the poor fellow at his

(14:01):
throat cut in the barbers for his string of perils.
I fear he was murdered. Not a doubt of it.
You really think so, Ben? The tone of agony with which
this question was put to him, and the look of utter desolation
which accompanied it, alarmed Ben, and he hastily said, Oh,
come, come, I didn't mean that. No doubt something has happened,

(14:22):
but it will be all right somedayor other, you may depend.
Oh, dear, Oh, dear, the idea if you're going to watch Shababba
with some boys clothes on, tell me what I can do, for my heart
and brain are nearly distracted by my sufferings.
Ben looked all around the room and then up at the ceiling, as
though he had the hope and expectation of finding some

(14:42):
startling suggestion written legibly before his eyes.
Somewhere at length he spoke, saying Tells you what, Johanna?
Madea, whatever you do, don't put them things on again.
You'll leave it all to me. But, but will you do?
What can you do, Ben? Well, I don't know exactly, but
I'll let you know when it's done.

(15:03):
But do not run into any danger for my sake.
Danger. Danger.
I should like to see the Barber that would interfere with me.
No, my dear, no. I'm too well used to all sorts
of animals for that. I'll see what I can do and let
you know about it tomorrow. And in the meantime, you stick
to petticoats and don't be putting on them fingermies

(15:23):
again. You'll leave it to me, will you
know, until tomorrow? Yes, I'll be here tomorrow,
about this time of day, and I hope I shall have some news for
you. But I'll declare it's just like
a book. It is.
You are quite a prodigy. Ben would have treated Johanna
to another of the suffocating embraces, but she contrived to

(15:45):
elude him, and as by this time the old gentleman in the shop
was suited with a pair of spectacles, Mr. Oakley returned
to the parlour. Johanna placed a finger upon her
lips as an indication to Ben that she was to say nothing to
her father of what had passed between them.
For although Mr. Oakley knew generally the story of his
daughters attachment to Mark andGestri, as the reader is aware,

(16:06):
he knew nothing of the expedition to Fleet Street in
disguise. Ben, feeling that he now had an
important secret to keep, shut his mouth sharp for fear it
should escape, and looked so mysterious that anyone more
sharp sighted than the old spectacle maker must have
guessed that something very unusual was the matter.
And Mr. Oakley, however, had no suspicions.

(16:27):
But as this state of things was very irksome to Ben, he soon
rose to take his leave also. Look in again tomorrow, he said.
Cause an Oakley we shall be gladto see you, said Mr. Oakley.
Yes, added Johanna, who felt it incumbent upon her to say
something. We shall be very glad to see you
indeed, said her father. You and Ben were always great

(16:49):
friends, and we always well be, said Ben.
Then he thought he would add something wonderfully clever, so
as completely to ward off all suspicions of Oakley's if he had
any, and added, she ain't like some young craters that think
nothing of putting on what they shouldn't.
Oh dear, no, not she. Bye, bye, I'll come tomorrow.

(17:12):
Ben was quite pleased when he got out of the house, for among
the things that he, Ben found itdifficult to do was to keep a
secret. Well, he said when he was fairly
out in the open air, if I ain't rather non plus to all this,
what shall I do? This was a question much easier
asked than answered. Has Ben found out?

(17:33):
But, however, he felt an irresistible urge to go and have
a look at the shop of Sweeney Todd, Ark, and easily go a Fleet
Street. And then, if I find myself late,
I can take a boat at Blackfriarsfor the tower stairs, and after
all get into dinner comfortably enough.
With this conclusion Ben set offat a good pace down Snow Hill,

(17:54):
and was soon at the beginning ofFleet Street.
He walked on until he came to Sweeney Todd's shop, and there
he paused. Now we have previously remarked
that there was 1 great peculiarity in the shop window
of Todd, and that was that the articles in it were so well
arranged that someone was alwaysin the way of obtaining any view
from the outside into the establishment.

(18:16):
Todd was therefore secure against the dangers arising from
peeping and prying. Big Ben placed himself close to
the window and made an attempt by flattening his nose against
the panes of glass, to peep in, but always in vain.
He could not obtain the smallestglimpse into the inside.
Confound it, he cried. What a cunning sort of animal

(18:37):
this is. To be sure, he wouldn't let one
peep through the balls of his cage that he wouldn't now.
Sweeney Todd became aware by theadditional darkness of his shop
that someone must be quite closeto the window, and therefore
availing himself of a peephole that he had expressly for the
purpose of reconnoitering the passing world without.
He took a long look at Big Ben. It was some moments before Ben

(19:01):
caught sight of a great eye in the window of Sweeney Todd,
glancing at him. This eye appeared as if it were
set in the center of a placard, which announced in glowing
language the virtues of some condiment for the hair or the
skin, and it had a most ferocious aspect.
Big Ben looked fascinated and transfixed to the spot.
And then he muttered to himself.Well, if that's his, oh he's a

(19:24):
ramen, how some devour. It's no use staying outside.
I'll pop in and get shaved and then I shall be able to look
about me. It was afraid.
As Ben turned around he saw a plainly attired man close to his
elbow, but he took no notice of him, although from his close
proximity to him it was quite impossible that the plain
looking man could have failed tooverhear what Ben said.

(19:47):
In another moment, Big Ben was in Todd's shop.
Shaved or dressed, Sir, said Todd.
Shaved, said Ben as he cast his eyes around the shop.
Looking for anything. Sir, said Todd.
Oh no, nothing at all. Nothing at all.
Only a friend of mine, you see, said this was such a noise shop,
you understand and be shaved in.Was your friend finished off

(20:11):
here, Sir? Will?
I rather think he was. Pray, sit down.
Fine with her Sir, for the season.
And now, pussy, my dear, get outof the way of the hot water.
Todd was addressing an imaginarycat.
Are you fond of animals, Sir? Lord bless me, I'm fond of all
the world. God made us all, Sir, from a
creeping beetle to a Beefeater. Very lightly, said Big Ben, as

(20:36):
he seated himself in the barber's chair, and so headed
Todd as he mixed up a lather andmade the most horrible faces.
We ought to love each other in this world of care.
I was your friend, Sir, who was so kind as to recommend my shop.
I should like to know what is hein eternity?
Oh, dear me. Well, a rather finky was.

(20:59):
Was it the gentleman who was hung last Monday, Sir, Confound
you? No, but there's somebody else
who I think will be on some Monday.
I'll tell you what it is, Mr. Barber.
My friend never got further thanthis infernal shop, so I've come
to inquire about him. What sort of man, Sir?
Said Todd with the most imperturbable coolness.

(21:20):
What sort of man? Yes, Sir, if you favour me with
his description, perhaps I may be able to tell you something
about him. By the by, if you will excuse me
for one moment, I'll bring you something that a gentleman left
here one day. What is it?
I will satisfy you directly, Sir, and I'm quite certain your
mind will be at rest. About your friends, Sir, whoever

(21:42):
he was. A remarkable weather, Sir, for
the time of year. Todd had only got about halfway
from the shop to the parlor whenthe shop door opened and the
plain looking man walked in, thevery same plain man who had
stood so close to Big Ben at Todd's window.
Shaved, he said. Todd paused.
If so, you will call again in a few minutes.

(22:04):
So if you have any call to make and can conveniently look in as
you come back. No, I'll take a seat.
The plain looking man sat down close to the door and looked as
calm and unconcerned as anyone possibly could.
The look with which Todd regarded him for a moment, and
only one moment, was truly horrible.
He then quietly went into his back parlor.

(22:25):
In a moment he entered with a common kid glove and said to
Ben, Did this belong to your friend?
A gentleman left it here one day.
Ben shook his head. I really don't know, he said.
Come, Mr. Barber, finish the shaving, for that gentleman is
Whiting. Ben was duly shaved, while the
plain looking man sat quietly inthe chair by the door, and when

(22:46):
the operation was finished, Ben looked in Todd's face and said
solemnly. A string of pearls, Sir, said
Todd, without changing his countenance in the least.
A string of pearls. Murder.
Ah, what, Sir? Ben looked staggered.
He knew well that if he had cut anyone's throat for a string of

(23:07):
pearls, that such words said to him would have driven him
frantic. But he saw no change in Todd's
face, and he began to think, after all, that the accusation
must be unfounded, and mutteringto himself that must be nothing
but a child's fancy after all, he hastily threw down a tuppence
and left the shop. Now Sir, said Todd to the plain

(23:27):
looking man. Thank you.
The plain looking man rose, but as he did so he seemed to just
glance through the door into thestreet as it was opened by Ben.
Immediately his face was full ofsmiles as he cried.
Oh Jenkins, is that you? Ha, I missed you this morning.
Excuse me Mr. Barber, I'll look in again.
My old friend Jenkins has just gone by.

(23:49):
With this he flew out from Todd's shop like a shot, and was
gone towards Temple Bar before the Barber could move or lay
down the shaving cloth which he had in his hands all ready to
tuck up under his chin. Todd stood for a few moments in
an attitude of irresolution. Then he spoke.
What does all this mean? He said.
Is there danger? Curses on them both?

(24:10):
I would have, but no matter. I must be wrong, very wrong.
That string of pearls may yet destroy me.
Destroy. No, no, no, they must have yet
more wit before they get the better of me.
And yet how I calculated upon the destruction of that man I
must think, I must think. Todd sat down in his own chair

(24:31):
and gave himself up to what is popularly denominated a brown
study. That's the end of today's
chapter of Sweeney Todd. And that was a definitely a near
thing for Big Ben. If that plain looking man, who
we can definitely assume was either Sir Richard Blunt himself

(24:51):
or one of his top lieutenants, had been 10 seconds later coming
into the shop, well, well, he would have seen how the business
was done, wouldn't he? But that wouldn't have made
things much less fatal for Big Ben.
As villains go, Sweeney Todd really is top notch, don't you
think? I particularly enjoy his remarks
to folks he is about to murder. I'm quite certain your mind will

(25:12):
be at rest about your friends, Sir, Whoever he was.
Remarkable Whether, Sir, for thetime of year, whoever he was,
eh? Oh yes, quite at rest.
Your mind will be quite at rest after I have dashed it against
the dungeon floor hard enough for all the knowledge to spill
out-of-the-box. Well, now it's time to learn

(25:32):
what a fadge is in flash. Can't.
It's a Farthing that's one quarter of a penny, so a pretty
small amount of money. It's the equivalent of 33 pence
in modern money, which is about $0.45 in the US.
And yes, you could get 3 oystersplus bread and butter for a
Farthing in the 1850s from a Costa monger in Fleet St.
Oysters haven't always been fashionable as food.

(25:56):
Farthings were also known as Jack's.
Of course Jack is a reference tomoney in general is still around
today. Now let's turn our attention to
London's favorite highway man, Dick Turpin in Black Bess or the
Night of the Road by Edward Viles.
Now last week in Chapter 11 of Black Bess, a strange traveller
came to the Hamden Keys Inn and knocked on the door just as a

(26:18):
guest was telling of a horrid murder that was committed there
just eight years previously. A not over well liked steward
was stabbed to death and robbed.The knocker was brought in by
the fire and the story continued.
But the newcomer became agitatedand went upstairs before too
long, seemed very uneasy, and a pistol shot and a scream, and we

(26:40):
learned that the newcomer was the murderer, and the murdered
man, who the killer had not recognized until too late, had
been his own estranged father. Sounds like just the sort of
drama that Dick Turpin can't afford to get caught up in,
doesn't it? So he'll be on his way today.
The Flash can't word for Black Bess is mopus, and still get a

(27:01):
couple of rushlights for a mopusor two if you want them.
You may be able to figure this out if you don't already know
it, but let's have our story, and we'll find out at the end of
it. Here we go.
Chapter 12. Dick bids farewell to Ellen and
sets out for London to show the Lord Mayor's Cup to the family

(27:25):
at the three tons. The shades of evening.
We're just beginning to dust skull objects when three persons
stood at the old fashioned box window on the ground floor of
the Hand and Keys. These three persons were Dick,
Ellen, and the landlord. Dick was speaking, Owen, he
said. You will then stay here along

(27:47):
with my friend Davis, so long asyou may choose to do so.
I am certain you will find him as kind and affectionate to you
as though you were his daughter.The poor girl could not trust
herself to speak, for so much kindness touched her to the
heart. Her eyes filled with tears and
she took a hand of each and pressed them in token of her
thanks. They're there.

(28:07):
It's all right. It is all right, said Tom Davis.
Don't take on so much. I can only say so long as the
old roof was above my head, you were very welcome to share it
with me. And now, said Tappan, it will
soon be time for me to set out for London.
London, repeated Ellen. Oh, no, no, do not go.

(28:27):
Why run into so much danger? Danger, replied Turpin with a
laugh. I never think of it.
I must visit London tonight in order to receive the money I
have won by taking the Mayor's Cup.
How much is it? Asked Davis. 50 lbs.
And it is hardly worth the risk,Not for the amount of money,
certainly, but having half won the bet, it would be foolish of

(28:50):
me to lose it by not complying with the other half of it.
Davis shook his head. Well, you know you were sure to
go, he said. But it strikes me that you have
the most difficult part to perform.
Why, why did you not tell me someone had split upon it and
set the officers on the watch? Well, yes, that was my

(29:12):
supposition from finding them soclose at hand.
And you were right so relying onit.
Now that the attempt failed, knowing you intended to carry
the cup in person to the three tons, they will so surround it
with enemies that it will be impossible for you to make your
escape with your life. Oh, how can you think of blindly
rushing into so much peril? You cannot be in earnest, Fain

(29:35):
would the young girl have persuaded herself so, for she
could not help feeling a deep interest in her protector.
But the next words that came from Turpin's lips dispersed her
hopes. I will do it, he said, and defy
the danger. The more of it there is, the
greater will the achievement be.I see you were bent upon it,
Dick, said the landlord. And I know before today that

(29:58):
when you take a thing into your head there is no turning back.
So I shan't say more. I am bent upon it, replied
Turpin. And I must say I feel none of
the apprehensions which you do. I suppose not.
But I do, replied Ellen. And now that I have found a
friend and protector, do not letme lose him so soon.

(30:19):
Don't go for my sake. I see that you are even more
timid than Davis is. I am always timid when there is
much danger, and I am bold, and on this occasion I feel an
assurance that I shall come off all right.
I hope you may, said Davis. When do you want your mare now,
Said Tarpon, looking through thewindow and observing the aspect

(30:41):
of the night. It is full early yet, but a fog
seems to be rising rapidly. I hope it will be a dense one,
for if it is, I shall stand a much better chance of success.
Then, said Davis, I will go round to the stables, saddle
Black Bess, and bring her to thedoor myself.
Do do do. The landlord departed on his

(31:02):
errand. And now, my dear, said Turpin,
drawing Ellen towards him. Pray dismiss from your mind all
foolish feelings of alarm for mysafety.
I have returned unhurt from manya more dangerous expedition.
Be happy. Davis and his wife will try
their best to make you so, and do not let them fancy you
ungrateful by showing them that they have not succeeded.

(31:23):
I will try to be happy and content and, added Turpin.
If I should not return, do not be alarmed.
It is impossible for me to say at any time where I may be in
three hours afterwards. Let me desire it ever so much.
I may be weeks before I pay another visit here.
Weeks, yes, and in the meantime you will find that time flies
pleasantly enough here. Ellen shook her head.

(31:45):
Not in your absence, she said. Layers waiting at the door, said
Davis as he re entered the room.So I should advise you to be off
as soon as possible, for you arewell aware that best never
stands anywhere long together without attracting attention,
and who can wonder at it, said Dick proudly.
Her equal has never yet been found and never will be.

(32:06):
A fancy. Be your flim.
No one suspects your presence inthis neighborhood now, but they
soon would if they saw her at the door.
I am off Goodbye, Owen. Don't be alarmed about me.
I shall be safe enough. Don't fear.
Expect me when you see me. Goodbye, goodbye.
He hurried out of the room as hespoke.
A moment suffice to take him to the huge front door of the Hand

(32:28):
and Keys, and they're just a fewpaces off.
He could distinguish black bass.The fog, however, was getting
denser each moment. You will have an ugly journey,
Dick, said Davis, as the highwayman mounted his mare.
I fancy it will soon be too thick for you to find your way.
Not a bit. I can almost do it blindfold.
I shouldn't wonder. You have been times enough

(32:51):
rather, and I trust more to my mare than I do to myself, said
Turpin, patting Bess's neck as he spoke.
I am not surprised you were so fond of her.
I should think not. And now, Davis, as it may be
some time before I see you again, I should like to have a
serious parting word with you. Speak out, my boy.
I allude to the young girl, Ellen.

(33:12):
I guessed as much. And now don't let that trouble
your mind at all. I will take good care of her,
and mind as well that she comes to no harm through you.
Ha, ha, you needn't laugh. I can see through a ladder
before the rounds are knocked out.
I don't doubt it. She has taken a fancy to you.
More's the pity. Foo, Foo.

(33:34):
There's no disguising the fact, then to put an end to all
jesting, said Turpin, gathering the reins in his hand.
I will promise you she shall never be wronged by me.
I am glad of a Dick, very glad, for already I feel as though she
was my own daughter. Goodbye then, Davis, old fellow.
Treat her as a daughter, and I'msure you will find her all that

(33:55):
you desire. As Turpin spoke these words, he
waved his hand and gently pricking Bess upon the flank,
was in a moment out of sight in the thick fog.
It's a sad pity, soliloquized the landlord while he stood for
a moment on the doorstep. A sad pity that a man like him
should have taken to the road. He is a brave heart, and I don't

(34:16):
believe he would do an ungenerous action for the world
if he had only had the opportunity.
Many have. What a great man he would have
become now. What is he perhaps going to his
death? It is a sad pity, it is indeed,
said a gentle voice at his elbow, and turning around, Tom
Davis saw the young girl whom hehad so soon learned to love

(34:38):
standing by his side. Now it's time to close the door
for the week on Mr. Turpin. This chapter is very short.
Mostly it just consists of Ellenbegging Dick to stick around and
Dick not being up for it. For my money, the most
interesting part comes at the end when Davis talks about what

(34:59):
a pity it is that a brave, noblefellow like Dick Turpin should
have chosen a life of crime thatalmost comes off as a plea for
social justice. So let's move on to our next
noggin of St. Giles Greek.
What is a mopus? You can still get a couple of
rushlights for a mopus or two ifyou want them.
It's a hapenny halfpenny. And of course, now you'll have a

(35:20):
leg up on this next one of these.
Because yes, I am focusing on money this episode specifically,
little bits of money. Hapenny were also known as
coppers or mags or Tonys. Copper and bronze coins in
general were known as Browns. Well, now it's time for a
chapter of Varney the Vampire orThe Feast of Blood.

(35:41):
Last week in Chapter 11, Henry Bannerworth urged Charles
Holland to flee and leave the vampire blighted Bannerworth
family to its fate. But he steadfastly refused to do
so and reaffirmed his commitmentto Flora and asked to be
billeted in the room in which the undead apparition revisited
her. Will Vampy try and renew his
attentions? Well, we'll actually find out

(36:04):
today, but before we start, we'll have to talk over another
flash Can't word or phrase. And this time it's Thrones.
Sweeney Todd gave Charlie Frums for a bed, but you can't even
sleep in a coffin for VAT. Take a guess.
At the end of the reading we'll find out if you were right, but
you'll probably be able to dope this one out pretty easily.
Speaking of the reading, here itcomes Chapter 12 of Varney the

(36:28):
Vampire or the Feast of Blood. Chapter 12 Charles Holland's sad
feelings The portrait The occurrence of the night at the
hall. Charles Holland wish to be

(36:48):
alone. If ever any human being had
wished fervently to be so, his thoughts were most fearfully
oppressive. The communication that had been
made to him by Henry Bannerworthhad about it too many strange
confirmatory circumstances to enable him to treat it in his
own mind with the disrespect that some mere freak of a

(37:10):
distracted and weak imagination would most probably have
received from him. He had found Flora in a state of
excitement which could arise only from some such terrible
'cause as had been mentioned by her brother.
And then he was, from an occurrence which certainly never
could have entered into his calculations, asked to forego

(37:31):
the bright dream of happiness which he had held so long and so
rapturously to his heart. How truly he found that the
course of true love ran not smooth, And yet how little would
anyone have suspected that from such a cause as that which now
oppressed his mind any obstruction would arise.
Flora might have been fickle andfalse.

(37:54):
He might have seen some fairer face, which might have enchained
his fancy and woven for him a new heart's chain.
Death might have stepped betweenhim and the realization of his
fondest hopes. Loss of fortune might have made
love cruel, which would have yoked to its distress as a young
and beautiful girl reared in thelap of luxury, and who was not

(38:15):
even by those who loved her, suffered to feel, even in later
years, any of the pinching necessities of the family.
All these things were possible, some of them were probable, and
yet none of them had occurred. She loved him still, and he,
although he had looked on many afair face and basked in the
sunny smile of beauty, had neverfor a moment forgotten her

(38:37):
faith, or lost his devotion to his own dear English girl.
Fortune. He had enough for both.
Death had not even threatened torob him of the prize of such a
noble and faithful heart which he had won.
But a horrible superstition had arisen, which seemed to place at
once an impassable abyss betweenthem.

(38:58):
And to say to him in a voice of thundering denunciation, Charles
Holland, will you have a vampirefor your bride?
The thought was terrific. He paced the gloomy chamber to
and fro with rapid strides, until the idea came across his
mind that by doing so he might not only be proclaiming to his

(39:19):
kind entertainers how much he was mentally distracted, but he
might likewise be seriously distracting them.
The moment this occurred to him he sat down and was profoundly
still for some time. He then glanced at the light
which had been given to him, andhe found himself almost
unconsciously engaged in a mental calculation as to how

(39:40):
long it would last him in the night.
Half ashamed then, of such terrors as such a consideration
would seem to indicate, he was on the point of hastily
extinguishing it, when he happened to cast his eyes on the
now mysterious and highly interesting portrait in the
panel. The picture as a picture was
well done, whether it was a correct likeness or not of the

(40:02):
party whom it represented. It was one of those kind of
portraits that seemed so lifelike that as you look on
them, they seem to return your gaze fully and even to follow
you with their eyes from place to place.
By candlelight such an effect ismore likely to become striking
and remarkable than by daylight.And now, as Charles Holland

(40:23):
shaded his eyes from the light so as to cast its full ragence
upon the portrait, he felt wonderfully interested in its
lifelike appearance. Here is true skill, he said,
such as I have not before seen. How strangely this likeness of a
man whom I never saw now seems to gaze upon me.

(40:43):
Unconsciously, too, he aided theeffect which he justly enough
called lifelike, by a slight movement of the candle, such as
anyone not blessed with nerves of iron would be sure to make.
And such a movement made the face look as if it were inspired
with vitality. Charles remained looking at the
portrait for a considerable amount of time.

(41:04):
He found a kind of fascination in it which prevented his
drawing his eyes away from it. It was not fear which induced
him to continue gazing upon it, but the circumstance that it was
the likeness of the man who, after death, was supposed to
have borrowed so new and so Hijus in existence, combined
with its artistic merits, chained him to the spot.

(41:26):
I shall know, he said. Know that face again, and let me
see it where I may, and under what circumstance I may.
Each feature is now indelibly fixed upon my memory.
I can never mistake it. He turned aside as he uttered
these words, and as he did so his eyes fell upon a part of the
ornamental frame which composed the edge of the panel, and which

(41:49):
seemed to him to be of a different colour from the
surrounding portion. Curiosity and increased interest
prompted him at once to make a closer inquiry into the matter,
and by a diligent and careful scrutiny he was almost induced
to come to the positive opinion that had no very distant period.
In time past the portrait had been removed from the place it

(42:11):
occupied. When once this idea, even vague
and indistinct as it was in consequence of the slight
grounds he had formed it on, gotpossession of his mind, he felt
most anxious to prove its verification or its fallacy.
He held the candle in a variety of situations so that it's light
fell in different ways upon the picture.

(42:33):
And the more he examined it, themore he felt convinced that it
must have been moved lately. And it would appear as if in its
removal a piece of the old oakencarved framework of the panel
had been accidentally broken offwhich caused the new look of the
fracture. And that this accident from the
nature of the broken bit of framing could have occurred in

(42:54):
any other way than from an actual or attempted removal of
the picture he felt was extremely unlikely.
He set down the candle on a chair near at hand, and tried if
the panel was fixed fast in place.
Upon the very first touch she felt convinced it was not so,
that it was easily moved. How to get it out, though

(43:15):
presented difficulty, and to getit out was tempting.
Who knows, he said to himself, what may be behind it?
This is an old baronial sort of hall, and the greater portion of
it was no doubt built at a time when the construction of such
places as hidden chambers and intricate staircases were in all
buildings of importance considered desi durata.

(43:38):
That he should make some discovery behind the portrait
now became an idea that possessed him strongly, although
he certainly had no definite grounds for really supposing
that he should do so. Perhaps the wish was more
farther to the thought than he, and the partial state of
excitement he was in really imagined.
But so it was, he felt convincedthat he should not be satisfied

(44:01):
until he had removed that panel from the wall and seen what was
immediately behind it. After the panel containing the
picture had been placed where itwas, it appeared that pieces of
molding had been inserted all around, which had had the effect
of keeping it in its place, and it was a fracture of one of
these pieces which had first called Charles Hollande

(44:22):
attention to the probability of the picture having been removed.
That he should have to get 2 at least of the pieces of molding
away before he could hope to remove the picture was to him
quite apparent, and he was considering how he should
accomplish such a result when hewas suddenly startled by a knock
at his chamber door. Come in, said Charles, for he

(44:45):
knew he had not fastened the door.
Until that sudden demand for admission at his door came.
He scarcely knew to what a nervous state he had worked
himself up. It was an odd sort of tap, one
only a single tap, as if someonedemanded admittance and wished
to awaken his attention with theleast possible chance of

(45:06):
disturbing anyone else. Come in, said Charles, for he
knew he had not fastened the door.
Come in. There was no reply, but after a
moment's pause the same sort of low tap came again.
Again he cried. Come in.
But whoever it was seemed determined that the door should
be opened for him, and no movement was made from the

(45:29):
outside. The third time the tap came, and
Charles was very close to the door when he heard it, for with
a noiseless step he had approached it, intending to open
it. The instant this third
mysterious demand for admission came, he did open it wide.
There was no one there. In an instant he crossed the
threshold into the corridor which ran right and left a

(45:52):
window at one end of it now sentin the moon's rays so that it
was tolerably light. But he could see no one.
Indeed, to look for anyone he felt sure, was needless, for he
had opened his chamber door almost simultaneously with the
last knock for admission. It is strange, he said, as he
lingered on the threshold of hisroom door for some moments.

(46:13):
My imagination could not so completely deceive me.
There was most certainly a demand for admission.
Slowly he returned to his room again and closed the door behind
him. One thing is evident, he said,
that if I am in this apartment and to be subjected to these
annoyances, I shall get no rest,which will soon exhaust me.

(46:35):
The thought was a very provoking1 and the more he thought that
he should ultimately find a necessity for giving up that
chamber he himself had asked as a special favor to be allowed to
occupy, the more vexed he becameto think what construction might
be put upon his conduct for so doing.
They will fancy me a coward, he thought, and that I dare not

(46:56):
sleep here. They may not, of course, say so,
but they will think that my appearing so bold was one of
those acts of bravado which I have not courage to carry fairly
out. Taking this view of the matter
was just the way to enlist a young man's pride in staying
under all circumstances where hewas, and with a slight accession
of color which, even although hewas alone, would visit his

(47:19):
cheeks. Charles Holland said aloud.
I will remain the occupant of this room, come what may happen,
what may. No terrors, real or
unsubstantial, shall drive me from it.
I will brave them all, and remain here to brave them.
Tap came the knock at the door again, and now, with more an air
of vexation than fear, Charles turned again toward it and

(47:41):
listened. Tap in another minute again
succeeded, and most annoyed, he walked close to the door and
laid his hand upon the lock. Ready to open?
It at the precise moment of another demand for admission
being made. He had not to wait long, and
about half a minute it came again, and simultaneously with
the sound the door flew open. There was no one to be seen, but

(48:03):
as he opened the door he heard astrange sound in the corridor, a
sound which scarcely could be called a groan, and scarcely
aside, but seemed a compound of both, having the agony of the
one combined with the sadness ofthe other.
From what direction it came he could not at the moment decide,
but he called out. Who's there?
Who's there? The echo of his own voice

(48:24):
answered him for a few moments, and then he heard a door open,
and a voice which he knew to be Henry's cried.
What is it? Who speaks?
Henry, said Charles, yes, yes, yes.
I fear I have disturbed you. You have disturbed yourself, or
you would not have done so. I shall be with you in a moment.
Henry closed his door before Charles Holland could tell him

(48:46):
not to come, as he intended to do, for he felt ashamed to have,
in the manner of speaking, summoned assistance for so
trifling A cause of alarm as that to which he had been
subjected. However, he could not go to
Henry's chamber to forbid him from coming to his, and more vex
than before, he retired to his room again to await his coming.

(49:07):
He left the door open now, so that Henry Bannerworth, when he
had got on some articles of dress, walked in at once,
saying. What has happened, Charles?
A mere trifle, Henry, concerningwhich I am ashamed that you
should have been at all disturbed.
Never mind that I was wakeful. Did you hear me open my door?
I heard a door open which kept me listening, but I could not

(49:27):
decide which door it was until Iheard your voice in the
corridor. Well, it was this door, and I
opened it twice in consequence of the repeated taps for
admission that came to it. Someone had been knocking at it,
and when I got to it low I can see nobody.
Indeed, such is the case. You surprise me.
I am very sorry to have disturbed you, because upon such

(49:49):
a ground I do not feel that I ought to have done so, and when
I called out in the corridor, I assure you it was with no such
intention. Do not regret it for a moment,
said Henry. You were quite justified in
making an alarm on such an occasion.
It's strange enough, but it may still arise from some accidental
cause, admitting, if we did not know of it, some ready enough

(50:09):
explanation. It may, certainly, but after
what has happened already, we may well suppose a mysterious
connection between any unusual sight or sound and the fearful
ones we have already seen. Certainly we may.
How? Earnestly, that strange portrait
seems to look upon us, Charles. It does, and I have been
examining it carefully. It seems to have been removed

(50:31):
lately. Removed.
Yes. I think, as far as I can judge,
that it has been taken from its frame.
I mean that the panel on which it is painted has been taken
out. Indeed, if you touch it, you
will find it loose, and upon a close examination you will
perceive that a piece of the molding which holds it in its
place has been chipped off, which is done in such a place

(50:52):
that I think it could only have arisen during the removal of the
picture. You must be mistaken.
I cannot, of course, take upon myself, Henry, to say precisely
that such is the case, said Charles.
But there is no one here to do so.
That I cannot say. Will you permit me and assist me
to remove it? I have a great curiosity to know

(51:13):
what is behind it. If you have, I certainly will do
so. We thought of taking it away
altogether, but when Flora left this room the idea was given up
as useless. Remain here a few moments, and I
will endeavour to find somethingwhich shall assist us in its
removal. Henry left the mysterious
chamber in order to search in his own for some means of
removing the framework of the picture, so that the panel would

(51:35):
slip easily out, and while he was gone, Charles Holland
continued gazing upon it with greater interest, if possible,
than before. In a few moments Henry returned,
and although what he had succeeded in finding were very
inefficient implements for the purpose, yet with this aid the
two men set about the task. It is said, and said truly

(51:58):
enough, that where there is a will there is a way.
And although the young men had no tools at all adapted for the
purpose, they did succeed in removing the molding from the
sides of the panel, and then by a little tapping at one end of
it and using the knife as a lever at the other end of the
panel, they got it fairly out. Disappointment was all they got

(52:20):
for their pains. On the other side there was
nothing but a rough wooded wall,against which the finer and more
nicely finished oak panelling ofthe chamber rested.
There is no mystery here, said Henry.
None whatever, said Charles, as he tapped the wall with his
knuckles and found all hard and sound.
We are foiled. We are indeed.

(52:42):
I had a strange presentiment now, added Charles, that we
would make some discovery that would repay us for our trouble.
It appears, however, that such is not to be the case.
For, you see, nothing presents itself to us but the most
ordinary appearances. I perceive as much, and the
panel itself, although of more than ordinary thickness, is
after all but a bit of plain oak, and apparently fashioned

(53:05):
for no other object than to paint the portrait upon.
True. Shall we replace it?
Charles reluctantly assented, and the picture was replaced in
its original position. We say Charles reluctantly
assented, because, although he had now had ocular demonstration
that there was really nothing behind the panel but the
ordinary woodwork which might have been expected from the

(53:28):
construction of the old house, But he could not, even with such
a fact staring him in the face, get rid entirely of the feeling
that had come across him to the effect that the picture had some
mystery or another. You are not yet satisfied, said
Henry, as he observed the doubtful look of Charles
Holland's face. My dear friend, said Charles, I

(53:49):
will not deceive you. I am much disappointed that we
have made no discovery behind that picture.
Heaven knows we have mysteries enough in our family, said
Henry. Even as he spoke they were both
startled by a strange clatteringnoise at the window, which was
accompanied by a shrill, odd kind of shriek, which sounded
fearful and preternatural on thenight air.

(54:12):
What is that? Said Charles.
God only knows, said Henry. The two young men naturally
turned their earnest gaze in thedirection of the window, which
we have before remarked was one unprovided with shutters, and
there, to their intense surprise, they saw slowly rising
up from the lower part of it what appeared to be a human

(54:33):
form. Henry would have dashed forward,
but Charles restrained him, and drawing quickly from its case a
large holster pistol, he levelled it carefully at the
figure, saying in a whisper. Henry, if I don't hit it, I
will. Consent to forfeit my head.
He pulled the trigger. A loud report followed.
The room was filled with smoke, and then all was still.

(54:56):
A circumstance, however, had occurred as a consequence of the
concussion of the air produced by the discharge of the pistol,
which neither of the two men hadfor the moment calculated upon,
and that was the putting out of the only light.
They there had. In spite of this circumstance,
Charles, the moment he had discharged the pistol, dropped
it, and spraying forward to the window.

(55:18):
But here he was perplexed, for he could not find the old
fashioned intricate fastening which held it shut, and he had
to call to Henry. Henry, for God's sake, open the
window for me. Henry, the fastening of this
window is known to you, but not to me.
Open it for me. Thus called upon, Henry sprang
forward, and by this time the report of the pistol had
effectually alarmed the whole household.

(55:40):
The flashing of lights from the corridor came into the room, and
in another minute, just as Henrysucceeded in getting the window
wide open, and Charles Holland had made his way onto the
balcony, both George Bannerworthand Mr. Marchdale entered the
chamber, eager to know what had occurred.
To their eager questions Henry replied, Ask me not now.

(56:00):
And then calling to Charles, he said, Remain where you are,
Charles, while I run down to thegarden immediately beneath the
balcony. Yes, yes, said Charles.
Henry made prodigious haste, andwas in the garden immediately
below the Bay window. In a wonderfully short space of
time he spoke to Charles, saying, Will you now descend?

(56:21):
I can see nothing here, but we will both make a search.
George and Mr. Marchdale were both now in the balcony, and
they would have descended likewise.
But Henry said, Do not all leavethe house.
God only knows now, situated as we are, what might happen.
I will remain then, said George.I have been sitting up tonight
as the garden, therefore may as well continue to do so.

(56:43):
Marchdale and Charles Holland clambered over the balcony, and
easily from its insignificant height, dropped into the garden.
The night was beautiful and profoundly still.
There was not a breath of air sufficient to stir a leaf on a
tree, and the very flame of the candle which Charles had left
burning in the balcony burnt clearly and steadily, being

(57:05):
perfectly unruffled by any wind.It cast a.
Sufficient light close to the window to make everything very
plainly visible, and it was evident at a glance that no
object was there, although had that figure which Charles had
shot at, and no doubt hit, beingflesh and blood, it must have
dropped immediately below as they looked for a moment after a

(57:27):
cursory examination of the ground.
Charles exclaimed. Look at the window, as the light
is now situated. You can see the hole made in one
of the panes of glass by the passage of the bullet from my
pistol. They did look, and there the
clear round hole, without any starring, which a bullet
discharged close to a pane of glass will make in it, was

(57:47):
clearly and plainly discernible.You must have hit him, said
Henry. One would think so, said
Charles, for that was the exact place where the figure was, and
there is nothing here, added Marchdale.
What can we think of these events?
What resource has the mind against the most dreadful
suppositions concerning them? Charles and Henry both were

(58:10):
silent. In truth, they knew not what to
think, and the words uttered by Marchdale were too strikingly
true to dispute. For a moment they were lost in
wonder. Human means against such an
appearance as we saw tonight, said Charles, are evidently
useless. My dear young friend, said
Marchdale with much emotion, as he grasped Henry Bannerworth's

(58:33):
hand, and the tears stood in hiseyes as he did so.
My dear young friend, these constant alarms will kill you.
They will drive you, and all whose happiness you hold dear
distracted. You must control these dreadful
feelings, and there is but one chance that I can see of getting
the better of these. What is that?
By leaving this place forever, alas, am I to be driven from the

(58:56):
home of my ancestors, from such a cause as this.
And whither am I to fly? Where are we to find a refuge?
To leave here will be at once tobreak up the establishment which
is now held together, certainly upon the sufferance of
creditors, but still to their advantage, in as much as I am
doing what no one else would do,namely, paying away to within
the scantiest pittance, the whole proceeds of the estate.

(59:19):
Which? Spreads around me paid nothing
but an escape from such horrors as seemed to be accumulating now
around you. If I were sure that such a
removal would bring with it sucha corresponding advantage, I
might indeed be induced to risk old to accomplish it.
As regards poor Flora, said Mr. Marchdale, I know not what to

(59:39):
say or what to think. She has been attacked by a
vampire, and after this mortal life shall have ended.
It is dreadful to think that there may be a possibility that
she, with all her beauty, all her excellence and purity of
mind, and all those virtues and qualities which should make her
the beloved of all, and which doindeed attach all hearts toward
her. Should become one of that

(01:00:01):
dreadful tribe of beings who cling to existence by feeding in
the most dreadful manner upon the lifeblood of others.
Oh, it is dreadful to contemplate.
Too horrible, too horrible. Then wherefore speak of it?
Said Charles with some asperity.Now by the great God of heaven,
who sees all our hearts, I will not give in to such a horrible

(01:00:21):
doctrine. I will not believe it.
And were death itself my portionfor my want of faith, I should
this moment die in my disbelief of anything so truly fearful.
Oh, my young friend, added Marchdale.
If anything could add to the pangs which all who love and
admire and respect Flora Bannerworth must feel at the
unhappy condition in which she is placed, it would be the noble

(01:00:43):
nature of you who, under happierauspices, would have been her
guide through life and the happypartner of her destiny.
As I will be still. May heaven forbid it we are now
among ourselves, and can talk freely upon such a subject.
Mr. Charles Holland, if you wed,you would look forward to being
blessed with children, those sweet ties which bind the

(01:01:03):
sternest hearts to life with so exquisite a bondage.
Oh, fancy then, for a moment themother of your babes coming at
the still hour of midnight to drain from their veins the very
lifeblood she gave to them to drive you and them mad with the
expected horror of such visitations, to make your nights
hideous, your days but so many hours of melancholy

(01:01:25):
retrospection. Oh, you know not the world of
terror and the awful brink of which you stand when you talk of
making Flora Banner with a wife.Peace, oh peace, said Henry.
Nay, I know my words are unwelcome.
Continued Mr. Marchdale. It happens, unfortunately for
human nature, that truth and some of our best and holiest

(01:01:46):
feelings are too often at variance and hold a sad contest.
I will hear no more of this, cried Charles Holland.
I will hear no more I have done,said Mr. Marchdale and Twerwell.
You had not begun. Nay, say not so.
I have but done what I considered a solemn duty.
Under that assumption of doing duty, a solemn duty, heedless of

(01:02:09):
the feelings and the opinions ofothers, said Charles
sarcastically, more mischief is produced, more heart burnings
and anxieties caused, than by any other two causes of such
mischievous results combined. I wish to hear no more of this.
Do not be angered with Mr. Marchdale, Charles, said Henry.
He can have no motive but our welfare in what he said.

(01:02:30):
We should not condemn a speaker because his words may not sound
pleasant to our ears. By heaven, said Charles, with
animation I meant not to be a liberal.
But I will not, because I cannotsee a man's motives for active
interference in the affairs of others, always be ready, merely
on account of such ignorance, tojump to a conclusion that they
must be estimable. Tomorrow I leave this house,

(01:02:52):
said Marchdale. Leave us, exclaimed Henry.
I forever. Nay, now, Mr. Marchdale, is this
generous? Am I treated generously by one
who is your own guest, and towards whom I was willing to
hold out the honest right hand of friendship?
Henry turned to Charles Holland,saying Charles.
I know your generous nature. Say you meant no offense to my

(01:03:14):
mother's old friend. If to say I meant no offense,
said Charles, is to say I meant no insult.
I say it freely enough, cried Marchdale.
I am satisfied, but do not, added, Charles, draw me any more
such pictures as the one you have already presented to my
imagination. I beg of you, from the

(01:03:34):
storehouse of my own fancy I canfind quite enough to make me
wretched, if I choose to be so. But again and again do I say
that I will not allow this monstrous superstition to tread
me down like the tread of a giant on the broken Reed.
I will contend against it while I have life to do so.
Bravely spoken. And when I desert Flora

(01:03:56):
Bannerworth, may heaven from that moment desert me.
Charles, cried Henry with emotion.
Dear Charles, my more than friend, brother of my heart,
noble Charles. Nay, Henry, I am not entitled to
your praises. I were base indeed to be other
than that which I purpose to be.Come Wheeler, woe, come what
may, I am the afianced husband of your sister.

(01:04:18):
And. She and she.
Only can break asunder the tie that binds me to her.
That's it for today's bite of Varney the Vampire, and things
aren't moving along very rapidly.
This is definitely our slowest read, although I have to say,
Charles Holland, will you have avampire for a bride?

(01:04:43):
It's a pretty awesome line. The obsession with this
portrait, now that's intriguing.It's a dead ringer for the
vampire, as we recall, and that will become significant soon.
The tent were more significant, I should say that.
Tapping at the chamber door, theremoval and replacement of the
portrait, The pistol shot. So much of this chapter feels
like filler, like business. But there's an interesting

(01:05:06):
exchange at the end in which Marchdale absolutely persists in
painting the most elaborate and cringe inducing word picture.
A Flora succumbing to the vampire virus foot could use
that anachronism. And heaven forfend that this guy
he just met should talk of making Flora banner worth his
wife. Now.

(01:05:26):
Marchdale is pretty old, right? Like 45 or 55 I assume.
Too old for Flora by modern light, certainly, except for
weirdos like Leonardo DiCaprio. But back in the day it wouldn't
have been too unusual for a guy like him to have formed a design
upon a pretty young thing like Flora.
So maybe that's the issue here. The challenge with Varney is

(01:05:48):
it's written so turgidly that it's often hard to tell when
it's being padded with filler and when it's actually giving us
important clues to work out about what's going on and what
will be, you know, platforming some action, you know, several
dozen chapters hence. Doubtless we'll learn more
shortly. But, and I do want to mention
also that the pace does pick up.So what's Thrums?

(01:06:11):
Swaney told Gay Charlie Thrums for a bed.
But you can't even sleep in a coffin for that.
Drums meant threepence. We haven't gotten to that part
yet, but in a few weeks Sweeney Todd will be sending his
apprentice boy Charlie, who is of course Johanna Oakley in
disguise, out to find a place tosleep for the night.
For threepence, as 1840s readerswould know.

(01:06:31):
Well, it's a good thing Johanna had Sir Richard Blunt looking
out for her, as she would have had a hard time of it later in
the Victorian era. There were options, if you could
call them that, largely thanks to the Salvation Army Penny sit
ups, where you could sit on a bench all night in a reasonably
warm room for one pence. 2 pennyhangovers, which were basically
sit ups with a rope strung across the front of the bench so

(01:06:53):
that you could drape yourself over it and try to sleep.
Those, of course, cost tuppence and fourpenny coffins, which
were, well, coffin sized boxes that you could sleep in with a
tarp for a coverlet. That fourpence, by the way, was
the modern equivalent of a poundand a few pennies, so that's
what it cost. And of course, a pound and a few
pennies is, I don't know what, abuck $40.50 in colonial cash.

(01:07:19):
By the way, a tuppence piece wasalso known as a gemmy or a
deuce, and a fourpence was a groat or a flag.
And all of these were copper coins, so they were all Browns.
Well, that means it's time to turn our attention to our next
penny dreadful spring Healed Jack The Terror O London by
Alfred Coats And last week in Chapter 11, Jack was in a tight

(01:07:41):
spot, trapped in the churchyard vault with the fresh corpse of
the thief he had accidentally frightened to death, and with a
crowd growing outside, attractedby the thief's terrified
shrieks. With the help of his athletic
prowess and aided by some supernatural terror, he did
manage to get away at the end ofthe chapter.
But now what? He left Ellen Folder's stolen

(01:08:02):
property in the vault with a dead body.
How's he going to get that back to her?
Is he? We shall see.
Well, not necessarily right away, though.
Because of course, you know how Alfred Coats is.
The Flash can't term for Springfield.
Jack is a Tanner. Got me Benjamin on the mallet.
I need a Tanner to redeem it andgive it a guess.

(01:08:23):
After the story, you will find out if you were right.
Speaking of the story, let's go.Chapter 12.
Jack meets with Ellen, the seamstress's errand, A struggle,
the suicide and attempt at rescue.

(01:08:44):
Amid shouts of disappointment and exclamations of surprise,
Jack alighted safely on the other side of the railings at a
spot where no one was about. Turning, and uttering a loud
laugh of derision at his baffledfoes, he hurried away as quickly
as possible, keeping to the backstreets in case of pursuit,
which he feared would be hot andfierce should the body of Joe

(01:09:06):
Filcher be discovered. It was about 2:00 when he
strolled leisurely along Bishop's Gate.
He had just lighted a cigar, andas he blew the wreaths of smoke
from his lips, and was thinking over his night's work, when a
hurried footstep close behind him caused him to glance over
his shoulder, and an exclamationrose to his lips.
Scarcely was it uttered when thefigure which had called it forth

(01:09:29):
passed him with a nervous, hurried gait and speed along
toward London Bridge. Surely, he muttered, I have seen
that delicate figure before, andthe face too, or I am much
mistaken. It was but a hurried glance I
had either now or a few hours since, yet I am certain it has
the same woebegone features. What can she do here at this

(01:09:49):
hour? The female whose step had
attracted his notice, and who had hurried by him in such a
quick, nervous manner, was none other than the poor seamstress,
Ellen Folder. The wretched girl, as soon as
the excitement had somewhat subsided in her miserable
dwelling, had returned to her room, and, anxious about her
work, had gone to the window to find that it was no longer

(01:10:10):
suspended over the sill. The shock which this discovery
gave her for a time seemed almost to deprive her of breath.
Then she hurried into the street, but of course found not
the bundle gone. She said, in heartbroken
accents. Oh, I am ruined, undone.
Levy will never believe me. If I tell him the whole truth.

(01:10:31):
He will accuse me of making a way with it, demand its price,
or send me to jail. I cannot pay him for it, and he
will have no mercy. What's to be done?
What's to be done? Poverty and toil had already
weakened her nerves to such a degree that she was unable to
bear up against this new misfortune.
And alone and friendless in the world, with the dread of a

(01:10:52):
prison and the brand of a felon,she hurriedly put on her bonnet
and shawl and hurried from her house.
Where did she intend to go? Anywhere, anywhere she knew not,
cared not whither her footsteps LED her, anywhere from the wrath
of him who paid less for honest labor than honest men pay for
the support of the criminal. Her life had long been a

(01:11:15):
wretched 1 toiling early and late for a paltry pittance
scarcely sufficient to keep souland body together.
And now the cup of misery was full to the brim.
It could bear no more. She reached Bishop's Gate
Church. This edifice was the first
object which had attracted her attention since she left her
little room to go. She cared not with her.

(01:11:36):
She paused for a moment and looked at the tall white stones
which marked the last home of the departed, and then with a
deep sigh turned away, mutteringto herself.
They are at peace. Why should I wish to live when
nothing but misery is before me?What is the use of life to a
Wretch like me? Better that I rest in the silent

(01:11:56):
grave than live as I have done. Yes, they are at peace.
Why should I live? Why should I live with nothing
to live for nobody to care for me or even give me a kind word?
Heaven forgive me, I am sorely tried but for the sound of the
clock striking the hours in the sight of the churchyard.
She might have returned home to her wretched dwelling when the

(01:12:18):
fever of her brain had abated and her mind becomes somewhat
more at ease. But now her thoughts ran into
another channel and that was death.
Relief from all earthly suffering.
Escape from the vengeance of a hard handed and hard hearted
employer. On, then, with seething brain
and quick, tottering nervous steps on over the flags of the

(01:12:41):
London streets in the dead hour of the night, with only the
sound of her own footfall to jarupon her ears.
On with beating heart and tearful eye.
On with pale cheeks rendered more ghastly by the flickering
lamps toward where the river wound its Serpentine course.
On to the goal she had resolved to reach ere another morning

(01:13:01):
dawned upon the slumbering city.On to rest her wearied soul and
body on, on to the grave. Her mind was made-up, her
resolves were formed. Before her was oblivion.
Behind her poverty, insult, and the jail.
She would not hesitate. No, she would hurry forward to
reach that born from whence no traveler returns.

(01:13:24):
No more, With aching eyes and bursting heart, would she ply
the needle by the halfpenny rushlight.
No more would she tremble at thedrunken tones of her landlord,
or seek for employment from the hard fisted employer.
No longer overworked and half starved, would she live on from
day-to-day a life of wretchedness, when one plunge
would rid her forever of all herfears and all her sufferings.

(01:13:47):
As she drew nearer and nearer tothat spot from whence she had
resolved to take the fatal leap,her footsteps quickened, and her
sorrowing heart ached less acutely.
Still she saw nothing as she went along.
Her gaze was turned upon her soul, and could spare not a
passing glance for outward objects.
She saw not he did not the sudden pause and astonished look

(01:14:09):
of Jack as she hurried past him.She heard not his quick footfall
on the stone flags as he speed after her.
So engrossed was she in the act that she meditated, nor was it
until his hand was laid upon hershoulder that she became
cognizant of the presence of another human being.
Then she uttered a cry and started round.
A lamp cast a flickering light upon his face, and she almost

(01:14:31):
shrieked as she turned and speedaway from the spot.
Jack had forgotten to remove hismask when he had made good his
escape from the churchyard, A circumstance which might have
caused him some inconvenience had he met with anyone on his
route. Still the cause of the girl's
flight and Terror did not strikehim, and anxious to inform her
of where she might find her stolen work, he rushed after

(01:14:52):
her. The girl heard his footsteps
behind her, and redoubled her speed.
Terror added wings to her flight.
By heaven she runs well, muttered Jack.
But what can induce her to fly from what brings her over here
at this hour? Over the flags they went, the
girl ever and a non casting terrified glances behind her and
struggling to increase her speedas she perceived Jack gaining

(01:15:15):
upon her. Stop, stop, he cried.
I have something to say to you. I will not harm you.
I pledge you my word I will not,he cried as he stretched forth
his hand to stay her flight, butthe girl only bounded on the
quicker she had eluded his graspand placed a greater distance
between them. Do not seek to avoid me, he
cried. I assure you that I am your

(01:15:35):
friend. Oh leave me, let me go, she
answered without slackening her speed.
I have no friends. Listen to me, go, do not stop
me. Whither do you fly?
Asked Jack, as he again as said,to stop her progress from the
cruel world. She gasped.
Oh, in heaven's name, let me go.Jack had grasped at her shawl.

(01:15:56):
She was held by it a moment, butthe next she sprang away,
leaving it in his hand. This enabled her to place a good
space between them. Jack stood with the worn shawl
in his hand, looking in surprisefor some moments after the
fleeing figure of Ellen. Poor girl, he mentally
ejaculated. What can be her purpose?
Why does she thus fly from me? Where can she be going from the

(01:16:18):
cruel world? What do those words portend?
Ah, he added, flinging the shawlto his feet as the truth
suddenly flashed across his mind.
Does she meditate suicide? Her strange manner, her hurried
speed convinces me that she does.
Jack, you have killed 1 poor Wretch tonight.
Atone for that unintentional deed by saving this poor mortal
from herself from a crime She stops not to think of.

(01:16:41):
Away, Jack away, or she will elude your arm.
Stop, stop. Tis useless to call.
She is deaf to entreaty. Quick, Jack, quick, or the dark
river will claim its victim. He gathered up the folds of his
long cloak in order that they should not impede his progress,
and bounded along after the fleeing girl at a speed that was
truly surprising. Gradually he gained on her, her

(01:17:03):
ears now alive to every sound. Ellen heard his quick footfall
and struggled to run even faster, but her strength was
failing her. Her breath came in short, thick
gasps, and a pain in her side caused by the exertions she had
made, compelled her to slacken her pace.
Jack saw this and hurried forward.
Again he had reached her. Again his hand was upon her
shoulder. Once again he had stayed her

(01:17:24):
flight toward the grave, but as he held her forcibly she gave
utterance to a shriek so wild and piercing that Jack let go
his hold and started back. You shall not go, he cried, as
he quickly recovered himself andagain sprang forward to stay
here. But as he stretched forth his
arm, it was seized by a man, who, aroused from a doorway
where he had been standing by the cry of the half frantic

(01:17:45):
girl, had sprung forward to her aid, believing her to be one of
those unfortunate wretches whom some imagined, because they are
fallen, may be insulted or outraged with impunity.
This circumstance enabled Ellen to again rush on, which she did,
despite her loss of breath and the pain she endured, the
newcomer urging her forward by saying, Run, run, leave this

(01:18:06):
bligger to me. We are man to man, and the want
as weakened to once powerful frame.
I have still sufficient strengthto chastise the scoundrel.
Who can insult a defenseless woman.
Jack had grasped the man's shoulders with the intention of
hurling into the earth, but as he gave utterance to these
words, he released his hold, andwith a look of admiration which
was lost upon the man on accountof our hero's face still being

(01:18:28):
covered by the hideous mask, he said, Whoever you be, these
sentiments show a noble mind anda good heart, and the utterance
of them has saved you a fall, perhaps, that you would have
felt for many a long day. Let go your hold that you may
follow and unsult that poor girlwhom perhaps want and villainy
have driven to the streets. No, you get not out of my
clutches until I can hang you over to an officer.

(01:18:50):
On the word of a man, I seek notto harm her, cried Jack.
On the word of a man you shall not, was the quick reply.
Fool, Said Jack, annoyed now at finding his good intentions were
likely to be thwarted. I seek to save that woman from
hurrying to self destruction. All very fine, but fellow zoo
would save another pang. Do not go about in the dead
night with hideous masks over their faces to prevent discovery

(01:19:13):
and punishment for their villainies.
Ah, said Jack, now recollecting his mask.
But hark you, I wish to protect that girl, and I'm determined to
endeavour to do so. I admire the sentiments of your
heart, and they do you honor whoever you be.
But while I suffer you to hold me thus, I am, however
unwittingly permitting that poorgirl to rush unbidden into the
presence of her Maker. Again I ask you to release your

(01:19:35):
hold, for I would not offer violence to one whose words and
deeds stamp him as a man. Spring, heal Jack, every man,
woman, and child in London have caused to dread your being at
liberty. It becomes a bounden duty of
every man to attempt your capture.
And now I have you. You will not get away easily.
Your excuses will avail you nothing ere I old you, till I

(01:19:55):
can place you in the hands of anofficer and make you answer to
those laws. You have for some time outraged
with impunity. You know that mask betrays you.
Beware, I'm a stronger man than you, said Jack, and IA better
one than you, though gold may line your pockets, and my form
is attenuated by wanton suffering.
What I have said is true. And now will you take your hands

(01:20:18):
from me, or must I hurl you to the earth, that I may pursue and
save that poor girl? I'll suffer you not to go while
I have strength to detain you, was the determined reply.
Then thus do I release myself, said Jack.
And so saying, he grasped the man by either shoulder, and
strove to hurl him from him. But the man clutched at Jack's
throat, which thus prevented hisintention.

(01:20:39):
Jack saw in an instant that his victory would not be an easy
one, and he summoned up all his strength for a final effort.
The distant footfall of an officer, too, he could now hear
distinctly on the flags of the pavement, and he felt that he
must obtain his liberty quickly,or all chance of saving Ellen
Folder would be lost. He shifted his hands from his
opponent's shoulder to his waist, and by a quick and sudden

(01:21:01):
jerk lifted him off his feet. By heaven, I would not harm you
willingly, cried Jack. Will you permit me to go on my
way, or will not release you up by force?
Said the man irresolutely and struggling fiercely.
Then blamed on me, exclaimed ourhero, as with one mighty effort
he dashed his adversary to the earth, and turning quickly,
hurried away as fast as he couldin the direction whence Alan had

(01:21:22):
fled. The poor fellow was partially
stunned by the fall, but he quickly recovered himself, and
springing to his feet, bounded after Jack, who had by this time
placed as great a distance between himself and his pursuer
as Ellen had between herself andJack.
Jack did not stop to look behindhim, although he could hear his
pursuer, who, finding that he was unable to gain upon our

(01:21:43):
hero, commenced shouting loudly.Stop him, stop him, confound the
fellow, muttered Jack, He'll wake the whole city.
Still he kept on his way withoutmeeting with any a further
obstruction, and at length gained the bridge in the sight
of the outline of a female figure standing on one of the
seats. Tis her, tis her, and I am too
late to save her, he cried aloud, gathering the folds of

(01:22:05):
his cloak still higher up about his body and bounding forward
with terrific leaps. Curses on the fellow for the
delay. He ran on.
Hold, for heaven's sake, hold, he shrieked as he dashed toward
the half maddened girl. Ellen heard his voice, turned
her head, caught sight of his form with a cry so wild, yet
plaintive, she mounted the stonework of the balustrade.

(01:22:27):
For God's sake, hold, Shrieked Jack in a loud, excited voice.
But Ellen flung her arms wildly above her head and laughed
aloud. Jack was now but half a dozen
yards from the seat, his heartbeat audibly.
His eyes were fixed with a fascinated glare upon the figure
of that girl standing out in thesemi darkness on that narrow
ledge, with the black waters running swiftly on a long, long

(01:22:52):
way beneath her. A few steps and he could seize
her frail form in his strong arms.
A few steps more and he could save a soul from destruction.
With baited breath he dashed madly forward, his eyes starting
from their sockets, Arms extended before him.
He reached the seat. He uttered a short, sharp cry,
but as his hand was within a fewinches of her dress, Ellen

(01:23:13):
sprang away from his grasp, out over the balustrade, into space
beyond, and disappeared from hissight a moment.
Jack stood like 1 transfixed to the earth, Then onto the seat he
sprang, dashed his hat to the ground, and strove to tear his
cloak from his shoulders, which in his anxiety and haste he was
unable to do. And gathering up its folds, he
mounted to the balustrade, cast one look down into the black

(01:23:35):
waters beneath, and then, spraying far, far out from the
narrow ledge, resolved to save or perish in the attempt.
Well, it's time now to bring Jack in for a landing.
And that was awesome. And vaudevillian.
A couple of things there. First, there was a well known

(01:23:56):
incident in which a poor seamstress, having had all her
money stolen from her and faced with being forced to enter the
Bethnal Green workhouse, tried to drown herself and her two
children in Regent's Canal. That was in 1844.
Her name was Mary Furley. Ellen Folder is, of course,
young and not a mother, but it seems pretty likely that that's

(01:24:17):
where this story came from. Mary Furley, by the way,
survived, but at least one of her children did not, and she
was initially condemned to be hanged for murdering the little
munchkin. But her case got a lot of
publicity and one of the things that highlighted was how
miserable and impossible it was to earn a living as a seamstress
because of the unreasonably low wages that were being paid by

(01:24:37):
the extraordinarily wealthy gentleman who employed them.
So her sentence was commuted to seven years transportation,
which probably wasn't the worst thing that could have happened
to her. One imagines Australia being a
land of greater opportunity thanLondon for a 41 year old
felonist. And by the way, our author makes
a point of identifying Ellen Folder's rapacious employer, or

(01:25:00):
rather contract holder, as Jewish.
I guess with a name like Levy wefigured that out.
But the implication that his cruelty and graspishness has
something to do with his Jewishness is definitely there.
I tweaked the reading on the flyso that it would not be overtly
offensive, but you'll surely have noticed.
And the anti-Semitic overtones are definitely here.

(01:25:21):
What can I say? We do our best, most of us, but
we are products of our time and conditioning.
I quite enjoyed the scene in which Jack and his would be
captor wasted a pleasant 5 minutes establishing one
another's noble hearted man credentials while Nellen speed
on to her doom. But I get that we needed to get
her into the river so that Jack could rescue her.

(01:25:42):
But it was a little tiresome forhim to have breath enough to
converse with her about how he had something important to say
to her. And please do stop and don't
jump when he could have simply gone.
I know where your bundle of workis, I can help you recover it.
And she would have been like, oh, OK, and maybe I don't have
to go to the workhouse after all.
But hey, the important thing is we're in the river now.
And of course, because this is Spring Hill, Jack, we're going

(01:26:04):
to cut away to a totally different story before we
eventually learn what Ellen Folder's fate is.
Well, now it's time to turn to the last Penny Dreadful on our
lineup. But first, what the hell is a
Tanner? Got me Benjamin over the mallet.
I need a Tanner to redeem it. It's a sixpence coin, which is
also known as a bandy, a fiddler, a kick, a pig, a

(01:26:26):
teaster, A tinker, and a tizzy. By the way.
I don't know for sure, but I strongly suspect that the phrase
tizzy fit, as in having a tizzy fit, is a reference to the tizzy
as the sixpence coin. Sixpence, of course, never
really a whole lot of money, so it'd be kind of a diminutive,

(01:26:47):
like a Tempest and a teacup kindof concept.
Tizzy fit? That makes sense to me, but I
don't really know. I tried to look it up in my
Oxford English Dictionary. I've got this enormous compact
OED with a built in magnifying glass and everything, but
although it has tizzy, it doesn't have tizzy fit.
A Benjamin, of course, is a heavy overcoat or top coat on

(01:27:08):
the mallet means in Hock at a pawn shop.
It wouldn't be much of A top coat if all our lad could get on
it was a Tanner. But we all do what we can I
guess. And maybe our boy only needed a
sixpence. So now it's time for the next
chapter of The Black Band or TheMysteries of Midnight by Mary E
Bradden. And last week in Chapter 11
thereof, we met a couple of characters, an elderly man with

(01:27:31):
rat like eyes by the name of Samuel Crank, who was an agent
for something or someone. Nobody in the neighborhood knew
precisely who or even what Samuel Crank looked like.
And then a tall dark man came tohis office and by golly it was
Colonel Mephistophiles himself. What fresh deviltry could that
Rascal have? A foot, then a knock at the door

(01:27:51):
and Mephistopheles hid to eavesdrop and we saw a nervous
young man with a handful of stolen notes come in to try and
fence them and was recruited by Samuel Crank into the Companions
of Midnight. Now for this one, let's once
again unpack the words I used inthe Flash Can't intro to this
episode. Hell hounds, hot merchants,

(01:28:12):
Hamlets and bigwigs of your friendly neighborhood sessions
house. Fill another bumper with good
strong black straps, sluice yourivories and get ready to load up
your knowledge box at the Penny Dreadful Parish Pump of
Prattery. And this week it's Big UNS and
Bugaboos that don't like our dreadfuls, but I bet you know
most of them and can probably dope the rest out from context.

(01:28:32):
But if not, I will unpack them at the end.
Now let's turn to our dreadful Chapter 12 The star of the
ballet. As the clocks in the
neighborhood of Haymarket struck3 on the afternoon of the day on

(01:28:53):
which Lady Edith had given her hand to Robert Merton, a stream
of young girls poured out of thestage door of Her Majesty's
Theatre. A heavy rain was falling, and
some of these young women, who were many of them humbly, though
neatly and respectably dressed, stopped under the colonnade in
hopes that the sky would clear and the rain cease.

(01:29:14):
Before long, brothers who were clad elegantly in rich silks and
velvets stepped into brooms thatwere waiting for them and drove
off after having exchanged a fewwords with their humbler
companions. Alas for those who wear costly
dresses and glittering jewels. But who to win these have
bartered that purest of all gems, Peace of Mind?

(01:29:36):
Lovely and brilliant, animated and fascinating, they appear to
be joyous and happy. But we know not of the lonely
hours of anguish which may rack the breast of the hapless ballet
girl who has exchanged her humble lodgings for the luxuries
of a palace, her shabby garmentsfor robes of silk and satin.
But who, in making this exchange, has parted forever

(01:29:59):
with the pure visions of her youth, and can only look forward
to a desolate and despised old age.
Weep for them. Pity, but do not too harshly
blame them. Poorly paid at the best, with
perhaps a drunken father or an invalid mother to support.
Perhaps the only provider for a band of helpless little sisters,

(01:30:20):
sorely tempted by base and cruelmen who hold the ballet girl
only as a toy made to minister to their amusement and to be
cast aside for some newer fancy.Weep for them, poor erring
sisters and remember that frail though many of them may have
been, yet in the ranks of the ballet are still to be found
every day devoted daughters, self sacrificing sisters and

(01:30:43):
true and affectionate wives. Many of the fairy like creatures
who flipped before us and Gauze and Satin are married women and
the mothers of a band of little ones, all looking to the Ballet
girl for support. The rehearsal of a new ballet
has just concluded and the troopof dancers, happy and having
finished their morning's laborers, are dispersing to

(01:31:05):
their different homes. Some of them had been prudent
enough to provide themselves with umbrellas, and these
trudged contentedly off through the crowded streets.
Others hailed omnibuses into which they stepped, for many of
them lived at a great distance from the theater.
One by one they dropped off, leaving at the last only one
solitary young girl, who stood shivering against one of the

(01:31:27):
pillars of the colonnade, as if afraid of encountering the bad
weather. She was very young and very
pretty. Her dress was shabbier than that
of any of the companions who hadjust left her, but shabby as it
was, it was neatness itself. The little thin print dress was
scrupulously clean. The small black shawl was
arranged carefully upon her slender figure, a Snow White

(01:31:50):
linen collar encircled her thin and graceful throat.
The dark brown hair was smoothlybraided under her coarse straw
bonnet, and the little threadbare boots which encased
her slender feet had been darnedand patched with careful
neatness. I dare not go till the rain is
over, she murmured to herself. My shawl will be wet through in
a few minutes, and then I shall have that nasty cough which the

(01:32:13):
ballet master says makes me so tiresome.
Some of the passers by turned tolook at her pretty face.
She was too busily engaged in watching the rain to notice
their glances, but at last she was annoyed by an elderly man
with dyed mustachios and a wig, who approached her with an
insolent stare that brought a vivid blush to her thin cheek.

(01:32:34):
Are you waiting for a better weather, My trauma?
Asked the old beau with an affected drawl.
This, padded into mustachioed old dandy, was no other than Sir
Frederick Beau Morris, well known to the theatrical world as
a lounger behind the scenes of those metropolitan theatres
which admit some favoured members of the aristocracy, to

(01:32:56):
the side scenes of the Green Room.
Such men as these are the tempters and destroyers of
ballet girls, who, entering a theatre young, innocent, and
confiding, are exposed to the polluting addresses of heartless
wretches bent only on selfish amusement.
Such men as these have no beliefin womanly virtue.
Bad sons, bad husbands, and bad fathers, they go down to the

(01:33:19):
grave through a long career of vice and infamy, and die at last
unregretted and despised. The ballet girl, whose name was
Clara Melville, turned her head away as Sir Frederick Beaumoris
addressed her, and affected not to hear him.
I am sure you are a great deal too putty to be deaf, drawed the
old man Play. Allow me to see you home.

(01:33:41):
My brooms are waiting in the next suite, if you'll accept the
seat in it. Clara, Crimson with indignant
blushes and with the tears starting to her dark blue eyes,
was about to make some angry reply, when a young man touched
the baronet on the arm, and witha light pressure pushed him
aside. Sir Frederick can let you
discover when your attentions are offensive to a young lady

(01:34:03):
without being told the fact in pretty plain terms.
Asked the newcomer. He was tall and slim, elegantly
dressed in the height of fashion, yet with gentlemanly
simplicity. His face was handsome, his eyes
bright Hazel, and round his broad forehead clustered a
profusion of dark brown curls. Sir Frederick Beaumoris blushed

(01:34:24):
deeply, almost as much as Clara had done a few moments before.
The old Dandy's vanity was wounded at the thought of his
insolent attentions having been disagreeable to any woman, and
above all at the fact becoming known to a younger and handsomer
friend than himself. Boy chow, my dear Reginald, he
said, with considerable confusion, and with a marked

(01:34:45):
decrease of his customary drawl.How should I know the little
girl so high in mighty that she wasn't to be spoken to?
She is not high and mighty, I'm sure, replied the young man,
glancing at Clara with a look ofunmistakable admiration.
And she would not have objected to being spoken to had you
spoken like a gentleman. Will you allow me to call you a

(01:35:05):
cab? He asked, addressing himself to
Clara. I fear this bad weather will
continue for some time. The young girl blushed more
vividly than she had done before.
You are very kind, thank you, she said, hesitating painfully.
But, but I would much rather walk.
I do not mind the rain. I, the stranger, understood the
cause of her embarrassment. You must allow me to insist, he

(01:35:27):
said, and before Clara could remonstrate further, he had
hailed a passing cab. If you will favor me with your
address, he said as he handed her into the vehicle.
I will direct the cabman where to drive.
She gave him the address of an obscure St. in Blackfriars.
He spoke to the driver and then looking in at the cab window,
said, removing his hat as he spoke.

(01:35:48):
I have settled with the driver and have taken his number.
Ladies do not understand these sorts of things.
She understood his motive, and touched by the delicacy of his
conduct, was about to thank him,when the cab drove off, leaving
him standing bare headed upon the pavement.
Upon my word, Mr. Reginald Faulkner, mumbled Sir Frederick
Beau Morris, as he and the youngman walked away in the direction

(01:36:11):
of the Athenian Club, of which the old baronet was a member.
Upon my word, my young friend, Ithink this is one of the coolest
proceedings I ever heard of. No sooner have I pitched upon a
Pretty Little party, to whom I feel inclined to pale little
soft nonsense, when you walk in,shove me out of the way, and

(01:36:32):
ship off the Pretty Little partyin a cab, before I can say Jack
Robinson. What do you mean by it, Sir?
I repeat, Sir, what do you mean by it?
Though Sir Frederick endeavouredto laugh off the matter, as if
he thought it a very excellent joke, it was not difficult to
see that he was both enraged andmortified by the affair.

(01:36:52):
What I mean, Sir Frederick, saidthe young man, is this.
There are some people so dull ofcomprehension that they do not
know a virtuous woman when they see one, unless she rides in her
coach with a ducal coronet painted upon the panel.
When people are so dull as this,Sir Frederick, they really ought
to be taught by those who know better, and who can recognize
virtue in a shabby gown, trudging on foot through the

(01:37:12):
mud. What a sermon, cried Sir
Frederick with an affected shudder.
One which I hope you will profitby, my dear Sir, replied the
young man, laughing good humouredly.
It seemed as if he did not a little enjoy the old baronet's
vexation. Upon my word, Reginald, you
ought to have been brought up asa Parson.

(01:37:34):
No, Sir Frederick, answered Reginald Faulkner, for them I
could not have enjoyed the pleasure of your acquaintance.
No clergyman of the Church of England could possibly be hand
in glove with the celebrated SirFrederick Beaumoris.
God, you're right, Reginald, said the older away chuckling.
Oh, I'm not quite the sort of party for a Parson Society.

(01:37:55):
And you're a capital fellow, Reginald, though you do
sometimes take it into your headto preach.
A good day to you, my dear boy. Good day.
I shall look that little party up at the Opera House in spite
of your sermon. And the old man hobbled off as
fast as his tight, varnished boots would allow him, chuckling
to himself as he walked up the steps leading to the clubhouse.

(01:38:16):
To Clara Melville, the ballet girl, a ride in a cab with such
a novelty as to be almost a treat.
That is to say, it would have been a treat had not her
affectionate mind being torturedby the thought of those she had
left at home. Poor little Jessie, she said to
herself as the cab drove over Westminster Bridge and turned
into the New Cut on its way to Blackfriars.

(01:38:36):
Poor dear child, I wonder whether she has cried much for
Sister Clara. It was 9:30 when I left home
this morning. Now it is nearly 4 poor
children. How they will have missed me and
Papa too. He has been waiting for me, no
doubt to get his dinner. After driving through several
small streets, the cab stopped at a dingy looking house in a

(01:38:57):
street smaller, dirtier and moreobscure than the rest.
Half a dozen squalid, raggedly dressed children were playing
upon the pavement before the door of this house, the lower
part of which was devoted to a chandler's shop.
Poverty reigned supreme in this wretched neighborhood.
It was difficult to think that the same city could contain the

(01:39:18):
gorgeous mansions of the West End and the tumble down smoke
colored houses in this quarter of the town.
Clara dismissed the cab and knocked at the shabby private
door of the house. It was opened by a little boy of
about 7 years of age, poorly butneatly dressed.
The child cried out with delightat the appearance of Clara
Melville. Sissy, Dear Sissy, he exclaimed.

(01:39:41):
Is it really you? Papa would not have dinner till
you came home, and poor Jesse has been crying for you.
How long you have been Sissy? Clara took the child in her arms
and kissed him, then followed him up the creaking, broken down
staircase to a room in the Garret.
This Garret was a wretched place, with a sloping ceiling

(01:40:01):
and a narrow window looking intothe gutter which ran along the
tops of the houses. But wretched as it was, even
here, cleanliness and neatness were stamped upon every object.
A sick child lay upon a tiny bedin a corner of the room, close
to a tiny iron grate in which burned a handful of cinders.
At a table near the one miserable window sat an elderly

(01:40:23):
man busy writing. Bred bare and shabby, as was the
faded chintz dressing gown whichhe wore, it was not difficult to
see that in the midst of all this poverty he was still a
gentleman. His features were well formed
and aristocratic, his attenuatedhands small and white, and his
manner had that unmistakable grace which betrays good

(01:40:43):
breeding. He looked up with a smile of
delight as Clara entered the room.
My darling, he said you were back at last.
Hard as I have been working, themorning has seemed very long to
me without you. It is 4:00, Clara.
You have been away from me for six hours.
My dearest Papa, I know how verylong I have been away.

(01:41:04):
The rehearsals of this grand ballet are so tiresome, and the
ballet master is so cross when we cannot learn the steps
quickly. And sometimes.
Do you know when he is teaching me?
My thoughts wander to you and Jesse and George, and I begin to
wonder how you were all getting on without me.
And then I do not hear a word hesays, and it puts him in a
terrible passion, and he says that I am the most stupid girl

(01:41:27):
in the theatre. My Clara, my poor darling, how
much you have to suffer, you whoought to be rich.
Ah, Papa, I never know what you mean when you say that you so
often say we ought to be rich, but you never will.
Tell me your meaning. No, my dearest girl, that is my
secret. It is a sad and a painful

(01:41:47):
secret, but I shall never revealit to you.
I think this, Clara, in the worst suffering that your
poverty brings down upon you. The sufferings of the poor are
nothing beside the sorrows of the rich.
Money is a curse, Clara. It transforms the dearest
friends into the deadliest enemies.
It causes the mother to hate theson, the husband to betray the

(01:42:07):
wife, the brother to detest the brother.
It transforms men into friends in the world, world into hell.
The old man was terribly excited.
His whole frame shook with emotions and sparks of fire
seemed to flash from his large grey eyes.
Dearest father. Cried Clara, throwing her arms
around his neck. I will never wish to be rich.

(01:42:27):
Am I not happy even in this poorGarrett with you and my dear
brother and sister? I do not seek for wealth while I
possess your love, my sweet 1, Murmured her father returning
her embrace. But how is this Clara?
It has been raining ever since 2:00 and you are not wet.
How did you escape the rain? You had no money to pay for an
omnibus. Ah, Papa, that is quite a

(01:42:49):
romantic story, answered Clara with a blush and a smile.
I must tell you about it. Then she described the scene
under the colonnade in the conduct of Reginald Faulkner.
Of course, she did not know his surname, and she could only
describe him as one of the handsomest and most gentlemanly
men she had ever seen, adding that she had heard the old man
call him Reginald Jasper Melville looked very grave, my

(01:43:13):
darling girl, he said. How bitterly I feel this, how
bitterly I suffer when I think of your beauty and innocence
exposed to such scenes as this. Remember, Clara, trust no one.
Remember always that the unprotected ballet dancer is
considered the legitimate prey of every bad man in London.

(01:43:34):
Do not trust to fair words, or even to actions which seem
benevolent, but which may be thesmooth mask that hides a guilty
motive. Do not trust a pity or remorse
towards beauty and innocence. The wicked are both pitiless and
remoseless. Trust no one, Believe in no one.
Dear Papa, I will not, I will not, indeed, cried Clara,

(01:43:55):
anxious to reassure her doubtingfather.
I may never see this Mr. Reginald again.
But indeed his manner was so respectful, so gentlemanly in
kind, that I cannot believe he had any bad intentions.
Do not trust one of them, Clara answered.
Jasper Melville. They are all hypocrites.
Clara busied herself in preparing the humble meal, for

(01:44:16):
which, small as it was, the family had waited until her
return. She took off her bonnet and
shawl, and put them carefully away in the adjoining Garret,
where she slept, and then began to boil some potatoes, which she
had prepared for cooking before she went out in the morning.
These, with a wretched bone of meat, made the dinner, to which
Mr. Melville, his daughter, and the little boy contentedly sat

(01:44:40):
down. Those who have once been rich
will often endure poverty and privation with the patience and
fortitude unknown to those who have been reared in penury from
their cradle. After Clara had cleared away the
dinner, and washed up the two orthree plates which had been used
in that humble meal, she set to work to make a cup of arrowroot
for her invalid sister. The child was in a burning

(01:45:03):
fever, and, despite of Clara's persuasion, refused to take even
a spoonful of the arrowroot. She has had nothing the whole
day but part of the orange you brought her yesterday, said Mr.
Melville. I do not know what is to be
done, Clara, for I am sure the child is very ill.
Clara knelt down by the bedside of her sister and looked long

(01:45:23):
and anxiously into the child's flushed face.
She was a PrettyLittleThing of about 9 years of age, wasted by
sickness, and with large blue eyes unnaturally bright with the
glassy look which tells of feverand pain.
She tossed her weary little headfrom side to side upon the
pillow, the softest pillow whichthe family possessed, but still

(01:45:43):
a hard one. Clara burst out crying as she
contemplated the child. Oh, PP, she exclaimed.
How hard it seems, how cruel andhow bitter that this darling
little 1 cannot have the comforts and luxuries which
might perhaps restore her. Look at her lying in this
wretched bed, in the stifling atmosphere of this miserable

(01:46:03):
neighborhood, and think of how different her fate would be was
she the child of a rich man? Dearest Father, I know that the
idea is a painful one to you, but let me implore you, for our
darling Jesse's sake, to let herbe taken to one of those
hospitals which the benevolent rich have provided for the poor
of London. There she would have all that
she had required, the highest medical aid, the most unfailing

(01:46:26):
care and watchfulness. Let her go, dear Papa, it is as
painful for me As for you to have to part with her.
But for her sake, I ask it, let her go.
No, Clara, No, cried the old manwith a passionate vehemence.
I will never suffer it. Never shall it be said that the
child of Jasper Melville was therecipient of any man's
benevolence. We can starve, my child, but we

(01:46:48):
will never stoop. We may die, but we will die
undegraded. My child, my youngest darling,
my Jessie, a pauper. No, no, no.
Think what that sweet innocent would suffer when she opened her
heavy eyes to behold only strange faces.
Think of her tortures when she called for her sister and her
father to be answered only by the hospital nurse.

(01:47:11):
Oh, Clara, Clara, how could you ask such a thing?
I asked it because I thought it was right.
Father, replied Clara, her beautiful face assuming an
expression of Stony despair. For I feel that if the child
remains here she will die. She will die, my darling, my
little sister. And the ballet dancer burst into
a passion of sobs and bowed her head upon the miserable palette

(01:47:34):
upon which lay the unconscious child.
For Jesse was in a high fever, and had for some time been
delirious. At this very moment the unusual
sound of carriage wheels was heard in the street below,
followed immediately by a tremendous double knock at the
street door. What is the meaning of this?
Said Jasper Melville, turning white as a corpse and starting

(01:47:54):
hurriedly to his feet. Have they haunted me down the
merciless wretches? Have they haunted me down at
last? Clara lifted her head from the
patchwork counterpane which covered her sister's restless
limbs, and, wiping away her tears, looked anxiously at her
father, wondering at his unwanted agitation.
Before she could utter a word, however, the Garrett door was

(01:48:14):
opened from without, and a lady entered the room.
A lady? She was such a creature of light
and beauty that description is powerless to give the reader a
just idea of her loveliness. She was of Spanish origin, and
the rich blood of the South mantled in her rounded cheek.
Her eyes were large and lustrous, and of that exquisite

(01:48:34):
almond shape which is so rarely seen except in the gazelle like
beauties of the East. Her lips were of a glowing
Crimson and slightly parted so as to reveal twin rows of teeth
which glittered like pearls. Her massive black hair, in which
shown those purple shadows seen in the Ravens plumage, was
brushed away from her face. She was tall and commanding in

(01:48:57):
figure, born to be a queen, an Empress, a divinity.
She looked about her for a few moments with a graceful
hesitation and then, advancing to Clara, took both the young
girl's hands in hers and pressedthem in her slender gloved
figures. This unexpected visitor was no
other than Lolota Vizzini, the reigning star of the ballet at

(01:49:18):
the Royal Italian Opera House. My dear Miss Melville, she said
with a slight foreign accent, but in a rich, deep voice whose
every tone was music. Pray forgive me this intrusion.
You must think me very impertinent, I have no doubt.
But you must know, of course, that I am called by the world
one of the most eccentric women who ever lived.

(01:49:40):
You must not, therefore wonder at anything I do say that you
will forgive me, or I shall haveto run away without telling you
the reason of my visit. Her manner had a grace and a
fascination in which none were ever able to resist, and in
spite of Clara's embarrassment, she was won by the charm of her
visitor's every word. The poor girl flushed Crimson as
she glanced around the wretched apartment and reflected what the

(01:50:03):
celebrated dancer must think of it.
This is such a poor place for you to see, Madame Vizzini, she
stammered. My dear child, do not speak of
that, cried the lovely Spaniard.My life has been a very strange
one. I have seen so many changes that
at 5 and 20 years of age I feel old and worn out and find that
nothing is new to me. A palace today, a Garret

(01:50:25):
tomorrow, these have been the vicissitudes of my varied life.
Never blush for your poverty before me, my dear girl, for I
have known the bitterest forms of destitution.
She seated herself, as she spoke, in a little chair by the
bedside of the sick child. Her superb Violet velvet dress
swept the floor of the room. The rich perfume which

(01:50:46):
surrounded her filled the apartment with exquisite scents.
Little Jessie opened her eyes and looked wonderingly at the
visitor. How pretty you are, she said to
Madame Vezzini. And oh, what a beautiful dress.
Tell you what, little one, Exclaimed Lolota, laughing at
the child's wondering eyes. Only promise me that you will

(01:51:06):
get well, and you shall have quite as pretty A1.
What a dress like that, cried the child.
Yes, a dress like this, answeredLolota.
And what is more, you shall go out riding in a nice carriage,
and you shall come to the theatre to see your sister
dance, and you shall come to my house to see me, and you shall
do all sorts of pleasant things besides.

(01:51:27):
Jasper Melville's careworn brow had flushed scarlet upon the
entrance of the brilliant dancer.
He now spoke to her for the first time.
Madam, he said, we are very poor, but we are very proud, and
I do not allow my daughters to accept favors from anyone.
They fairs, cried Lolota with a laugh of liquid music, who spoke
of favors. Do you think there would be any

(01:51:49):
favor in my taking this little one home in my carriage, and
nursing him as if she were my own and Mr. Melville?
She said, with an entire change of manner, and with a shadow of
deep melancholy upon her lovely face.
I was married at the age of 16. I once had a child like this.
She is dead, or at least she added, her pence of expression

(01:52:10):
darkening into a vengeful frown.I have been made to believe that
she is dead. I ask you, then, for her sake,
let me nurse your little girl. Kind and good as her sister is,
she cannot attend to her as I would do, for I have been a
mother. Let me take her with me.
Come when you like to see her, every day, every hour, if you
please. I shall always be glad to

(01:52:31):
receive you, and when the child is well, I will restore her to
your arms. Clara, plead for me, PP, do you
hear? Will you let her go?
The haughty nature of the old man was completely overcome.
He dropped his head upon the sheet of paper on which he had
been writing, and burst into tears.
You must do what you like with us, Madam, he said.

(01:52:51):
You are an Angel, and we should be wretches to refuse your
bounty. But tell me what all this means,
and what kind Providence LED youhere.
That is very soon told, said Madame Pezzini.
My note has asked been for some time attracted by your daughter
Clara. I have seen her so different to
the other girls with whom she mingles, that I could not help
admiring loving her. I have beheld her always so

(01:53:15):
patient and gentle, so kind to her companions.
It's so retiring and modest, shrinking always into a corner,
as if she hated to have her pretty face admired and
observed. All this charmed me, and when on
making some inquiries among her companions, I discovered that
she was the support of her little sister, and that the
child was ill with a dangerous fever, and scarcely expected to

(01:53:37):
recover. I determined immediately upon
paying you a visit this evening,and there is no performance
tonight, and it is there for a holiday with all of us.
I have brought my doctor with me.
He is the best and kindest of men.
He is waiting in the carriage, and if I can only obtain his
permission and yours, I shall take this dear child home with
me at once. I can only repeat, my dear

(01:53:58):
Madam, replied Mr. Melville, that you must do with us as you
like. There is something in your
goodness which makes me powerless to oppose you.
My little thought the day would come when Jasper Melville would
accept the bounty of any living being, but I cannot refuse
yours. Will you run down to the street,
though, my little man? Said the lota to Clara's little

(01:54:18):
brother, and tell a nice old gentleman whom you will see
seated in the carriage before the house, that he is to be so
kind as to step upstairs with you.
The child obeyed and a few minutes later returned with the
doctor a white headed old man with a most benevolent
countenance. Oh my good, Mr. Williams said.
Lolota, this is the little patient I have brought, you see.

(01:54:39):
After due deliberation, the old man pronounced that the child
might be safely removed to Madame Vizzini's house in
Arlington Street, where she would have a spacious apartment
and pure air. Now, my dear Clara, said Lolota,
when all the arrangements had been made for removing Jesse.
Of course we cannot possibly separate you from your sister,
but I feel that if I did, all Harris nursing would be

(01:55:01):
unsuccessful, so you must come and stay with me till Jesse as
well. You can go on attending to your
duties of the Opera House, and you can bring your Papa your
salary every Saturday soon as you receive it.
And I think that it will be verystrange if between us we do not
persuade the manager to double it before long.
So Clara carried her sister downto the carriage and held her on

(01:55:22):
her lap as they drove away. Mr. Melville went downstairs
with the little party, kissed his children again and again,
and poured out his thanks repeatedly to the lovely
Spaniard. You will come and see us
tomorrow, said Lolota, giving him her hand through the
carriage window. You will dine with us tomorrow,
Mr. Melville, and then we will see how our little patient is

(01:55:42):
getting on. Goodbye.
The carriage drove off and Jasper Melville and his little
son re ascended to their dreary attic.
George said the old man, do you know what that Lady is called?
No, Papa, she is called the starof the ballet, and if beauty and
goodness united can entitle the woman to such a name, she is

(01:56:03):
indeed a star. That's it for the black band.
Hooray, decent people at last. Although I have to say I'm not
as impressed with Jasper Melville as I guess we are
supposed to be. Is he really going to let his
youngest daughter die rather than seek help for her?

(01:56:25):
Where is the line between laudable pride and sinful pride,
anyway? The depiction of Sir Frederick,
what's his name, is a pretty funone.
I am absolutely here for this story of the virtuous ballet
girl, surrounded by predatory men and fallen women who have
exchanged their maidenly virtue for temporary comfort at such
men's behest. By the 1860s, it appears the

(01:56:48):
average Londoner had noticed that ballet, which just 20 years
before had suffered under a really terrible reputation as a
debased art, staffed basically with dancing courtesans at the
service of wealthy and well connected young ruets, had
changed. Or maybe it had never really
been like that. But this is most definitely not
going to be the last story of a virtuous ballet girl beset by a

(01:57:11):
superannuated libertine. We're going to actually meet
another one of those next time. Ballet girls seem to have been a
regular topic of conversation inthe 1860s.
I am very intrigued by Lolota Vitzini, though.
Who could her strange absent Italian husband be?
We learned that she was married at age 16.

(01:57:32):
That's funny. That's the age at which Ellen
Clavering married Philip Darcy, isn't it?
I know. I just can't help speculating
about what that Satanic Colonel Bertrand is getting up to.
He's got an apartment in all thecities, and one imagines perhaps
he's got one in Rome or Milan aswell, perhaps stocked with a
nice, trusting, bigamously married fancy piece like Ellen

(01:57:54):
Clavering, who sees him when he's in town and Pines for him
and he's not. I certainly wouldn't put it past
him. I wonder if he has a new one
now, but of course we have no idea at this point in the story.
But clearly, unlike Varney the Vampire, all the little threads
in the black band and unansweredquestions and things like that,

(01:58:15):
they seem to be more than just filler.
So one has to sort of wonder what the significance is of this
absent Italian husband. Well, that wraps up our readings
for this week and I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did.
Before we mizzle off though, I have to tell you about or flash
can't words hell hounds. Those are dodgy lads who
frequent their work in Hells which are gambling dives, hop

(01:58:38):
merchants, dancing teachers, Hamlets are high constables,
bigwigs are judges. And your friendly neighborhood
sessions house. Well, the sessions house was a
criminal courthouse where the quarter sessions were held four
times a year to pass down judgements upon criminals.
There. Old Bailey was a sessions house
to load another bumper. A bumper was a large glass or

(01:59:00):
Tumblr. Usually bumpers got filled with
beer or ale, but in this case we're filling ours with good
strong black strap which is port.
A pint glass of port would put most of us out like a light of
course. But you know one must suffer for
the sake of art, right? Saluse your ivories meant
basically wet your whistle. The ivories were teeth.
And of course, loading up your knowledge box at the Penny

(01:59:21):
Dreadful Parish pump of Prattery.
A parish pump was a water pump for public use, maintained by a
parish like the ones in Faith's parish installed near
Paternoster Square. Not all public St. pumps were
installed by parishes, but some were, and I liked the
alliteration so I went with it. And it's Biggins and Bugaboos
that don't like our dreadfuls. Biggins you can probably guess

(01:59:42):
at. It just means VIPs and fancy.
Tofs and Bugaboos are sheriff's deputies.
Not to be confused with Bugaboos, which are of course in
the air and everywhere. This has been our anachronistic
reference for the day. Well, that concludes this
episode of the weekly Penny Dreadful Story Hour.
I hope you will join me again that next week, same spring

(02:00:03):
healed time and same spring healed channel, when we will
have Chapter 51 of Sweeney Todd,Chapter 13 of all the rest
except for the Mysteries of London, of which we will have
Chapter 1. On Saturday, we'll start The
Mysteries of London Out, in which we will meet an anonymous
young man walking through a bad neighborhood, taking shelter
from a rainstorm in a sinister location.

(02:00:26):
In Chapter 13 of Varney the Vampire, Henry Bannerworth
receives a letter from his new neighbor, Sir Francis Varney,
who wants to purchase Bannerworth Hall for a good
price. Henry is torn, but decides to go
talk the matter over with Sir Francis.
When he arrives, though, he finds something unusual and very
unsettling. In Sweeney Todd.

(02:00:46):
We'll see Sir Richard Blunt meeting up with some authorities
from Saint Dunstan's church for a late night exploration of the
vaults below, with an eye towards solving the mystery of
the horrid smell that's been filling the church.
Sir Richard seems to think he knows what they're going to
find. We'll see.
That'll wrap up the Saturday start, and then on the Wednesday
continuation of the Penny Dreadful Story Hour, we'll start

(02:01:09):
off with Black Bess or The Nightof the Road, in which we'll
finally get to see Dick Turpin do his legendary stand and
Deliver thing. The fellow he robs, though, will
turn out to be a bit of a handful even for Dick in the
black band. Or the World's Stupidest Marquis
comes dashing up to Lady Edith Vandaler's house at midnight,
ready to take her away to the altar.

(02:01:30):
But unfortunately, because Robert Merton did something
really stupid 12 hours earlier, he's too late.
Wonder what he's going to do about that?
And in spring Heeled Jack, we'regoing to meet.
That's right, another ballet girl.
Yes, and in just about the same situation, too, only kind of

(02:01:52):
worse. A dashing and dissipated
libertine is stalking her home from the ballet, crooning sweet
persuasion at her. How far do you think he'll be
willing to go to win her love? And will Spring heal Jack be
able to save her in time if he decides to subject her to all
Together now? A fate worse than death.

(02:02:15):
We shall see. All of that, plus another bunch
of flash Can't. Words are coming your way next
Saturday Eve and the following Wednesday Eve.
Our theme music is a track called Night Radiance by Maxim
Cornishev. You can find more of his work on
Spotify, Apple Music, Band Camp and probably some other places
too. The Penny Dreadful Story Hour is

(02:02:37):
a production of Pulp Lit Studios.
For all the gory details, look to pulp-lit.com and to get in
touch with me, hit me up at finn@pulp-lit.com.
Thanks again for joining me, Pippens.
It's time now for us to go for the Mizzle for the Penny
Dreadful story hour. I'm Professor Flash AKA Finn JD
John signing off. So now fair forth and fill up

(02:02:59):
the rest of the week with Tip Top Crackery.
Bye now.

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