-I swear it, by
all the powers of hell! I care not whether by open violence, or secret
abduction, or subtle stratagem; I shall gain possession of her person,
and once in my power, not all the angels in heaven, or men on earth, or
fiends in hell, shall tear her from my grasp.--Ah, by Beelzebub, well
tho't of!--I know the mistress of a house of prostitution (of which
house I am the _owner_,) beneath whose den, as she has often told me,
there is a secret cellar, which she has had privately constructed, and
to which there is no access except through a panel in her chamber--which
panel and the method of opening it, are known only to her, and a few
persons in whom she can place implicit confidence.--This brothel-keeper
told me, too, that she had the cellar made as a safe depository for
young females who had been abducted from their homes,--a place of
security from the search of friends, and the police. In that
subterranean retreat, (which she informed me, is luxuriantly furnished,
although the light of day never penetrates there,) these stolen girls
are compelled to receive the visits of their lovers; and there, amid the
gloom and silence of that underground prison they are initiated in all
the mysteries of prostitution. By heaven 'tis the very place for my
little fruit girl; she shall be abducted and conveyed there--and once
safely lodged in these secret "Chambers of Love," HE who spoiled by
sport to-day, shall in vain search for her. Let him come, bringing with
him the myrmidons of the law; and let them search my house--then let
them, if they choose, go to the brothel, beneath the foundation of which
the girl is hidden, and search _that_ house, too,--ha, ha, ha! They will
search for her in vain. But _how_ to abduct her--there's the rub! Tush!
when did my ingenuity ever fail me, when appetite was to be fed or
revenge gratified? Courage, Timothy Tickels, courage! Thy star, though
dim at present, shall soon be in the ascendant!"

Such were the reflections of the old libertine, as he sat in his study
after the departure of the Corporal and Fanny; and he was so delighted
at the thought of a safe asylum for the latter, that, with restored good
humor he applied himself to the discussion of a bottle of wine, and
then, stretching himself comfortably on a sofa, fell asleep and dreamed
of the subterranean "Chamber of Love," and the little fruit girl.

CHAPTER IV

_A night in Ann street._

We proceed now to show how the Cor