d me, as soon as the job should be completed. Again she
shuddered;--and turned deadly pale; and with a bitter smile, which
seemed to me to be expressive of hatred and contempt combined, she
answered--

"'You are right, Simpson; you have obeyed my wishes, and merit your
reward,--but not now, not now! Come to my chamber at midnight; I shall
expect you,--you understand. Go now--leave me; remove all traces of
your crime. I shall take care to have a quantity of plate removed from
the house to-night, and destroyed, and when his lordship returns
to-morrow, he will imagine that Lagrange, despite his supposed
faithfulness and integrity, has absconded and stolen the plate,--that
will account to him for the valet's sudden disappearance. Leave me.'

"'Remember, at midnight, your ladyship,' said I, and left her; but
when I had closed the door of the apartment, I imagined that I heard
her give utterance to a scornful laugh. However, I attributed it to
her gratification at the death of Lagrange, and descending to the wine
cellar, I busied myself in washing away the stains of blood from the
floor. How impatiently I longed for the arrival of midnight! the hour
that was to bring with it the reward of my crime!

"During the evening, I paid a visit to a noted "_boozing ken_" in St.
Giles', which bore the very suitable appellation of the "Jolly
Thieves." Here I engaged two desperate fellows of my
acquaintance--(for I went on a _crack_, now and then, myself, just to
keep my hand in,)--to make away with the body of Lagrange; they were
to come to the rear of my master's house, an hour after midnight,
provided with a sack and some means of conveyance; and, for a liberal
reward, they promised to carry off the corpse, and, having attached a
heavy weight to it, sink it in the Thames,--although I felt assured
in my own mind, that, instead of giving it to the fishes, they would
make a more profitable disposition of it, by selling it to some
surgeon for dissection;--body-snatching being a part of their
profession, as well as burglary and murder. Having made this important
arrangement, and paid them a good round sum in advance, (for I was
well provided with money,) I returned to my master's house, which I
reached about eleven o'clock.

"At length the welcome midnight hour arrived, and with a beating heart
I repaired to the chamber of her ladyship. It was a large apartment,
f