[Gutenberg 41545] • The Orange Girl

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1900. Excerpt: ... stand why there was such a paltry show. Could a woman in my position brave such a fate for things so miserable T 1 Jenny! Jenny! You are wonderful.' 'No, Will, only I have my wits about me.' 'You have actually converted Newgate--Newgate Prison--into a Receiving House for stolen property.' 'Five guineas apiece for the turnkeys was what it cost. I thought it the safest and the simplest plan, Will.' 'Safest and simplest!' Before I recovered the surprise of this information we reached the stairs. On the quarterdeck was Alice with the boy. You dear good woman, ' Jenny cried. 'You are come to see the last of the transported convict: the end of the Orange Girl!' Yet beside my wife in her homely dress, Jenny looked like a Countess. Alice kissed her. 'We are not going to leave you, Jenny. We are going with you, your servants as long as we live.' CHAPTER XXVI. THE LAST TEMPTATION. We are waiting, ' said the Captain, for our passengers.' While he spoke there came alongside the ship a dozen boats or more laden with the passengers for whose sake the good ship was about to cross the Atlantic. There were, I remember--it is not possible for me to forget anything that happened on this voyage--one hundred and eight of them who came on board, men and women. They were brought down from Blackfriars Stairs in a closed lighter. 'Jenny, ' I said, 'go into the cabin. Do not look at them.' Why, Will, I ought to be among them. I am one of them. Suffer me to look at my brothers and sisters in misfortune.' Of these poor wretches we had seen the greater part already in Newgate. Within those walls: in the bad air; among those companions; where everything was sordid and wretched; they did not present an appearance so horrible as they did in the open air; on the bright river; in the sun...