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She then went to the chest, and replacing everything within it, removed it, by the help of the Earl of Rochester, into the adjoining room. "I will send for it at midnight," she said. "It shall be delivered to your messenger," rejoined the earl; "but you will answer for Chowles's secrecy?" "I will," returned Judith, with a meaning smile.
With a little persuasion, Mr. Vincent consented to the scheme. Pillichody was easily duped by Chowles's statement, and the ceremony was fully performed." "The whole story is a fabrication," cried the earl, with affected incredulity. "I have a certificate of the marriage," replied Judith, "signed by Mr. Vincent, and attested by Chowles and myself.
A link stuck against the wall threw a strong light over the scene, and showed that the coffin-maker was alone. As Leonard advanced, the sound of his footsteps caught Chowles's ear, and uttering a cry of surprise and alarm, he let fall the lid of the chest, and sprang to his feet. "What do you want?" he cried, looking uneasily round, as if in search of some weapon. "Are you come to rob me?"
"This is the house," said Chowles, halting before a two-storied wooden habitation, over the door of which was suspended the sign of the "Wheat Sheaf, with the name THOMAS FARRYNER, BAKER, inscribed beneath it. "And here," said Hubert, "shall begin the great fire of London." As he said this, he gave a fire-ball to Solomon Eagle, who lighted the fuze at Chowles's lantern.
"We cannot be mistaken," observed Leonard. "It is clear this house is the receptacle for Chowles's plunder. Besides, we should not have found the lantern burning if they had gone forth again. No, no; they must be hidden somewhere, and I will not quit the place till I find them." Their search, however, was fruitless. They mounted to the garrets, opened every door, and glanced into every corner.
The whole of Chowles's hoard, except the plate, which he managed, with Judith's aid, to carry off and conceal in certain hiding-places in the vaults of Saint Faith's, was taken from the house in Nicholas-lane, and cast into the fire. The cathedral was one of the first places ordered to be purified.
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