DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22217#0319
A HOUSE-BREAKER'S WIRE.
leg and fractured rib. Paying no attention to the injured wretch
or his cries, Brettle ran down the stair and made for the hotel.
A waiter at the portico told him that the Harpers were not
in, but were expected shortly. Brettle stood sentry there at the
door or near it for a full half hour, and at length was rewarded
by seeing a cab drive up, and a gentleman get out and hand
forth a sweet-faced and elegantly dressed lady—the veritable
Pretty Polly.
With a bound like that of a tiger Brettle was upon her, and
had her taper wrist clenched in his hand, and her face swung
round to the light of the street lamps with a force that almost
crushed the delicate bones.
" You jewelled serpent! " he hissed, " you would sell me to
the shambles ! Look at me, you beautiful devil, and say, it
you can, that it is not true ! "
A shriek—appalling enough to reach my ears above, and
bring me rushing down—was Pretty Polly's only answer.
Her husband, however, laid a hand on Brettle's shoulder—
" How dare you, sir ? Who are you ? "
" Her husband ! " shouted therinfuriated house-breaker ; and
at the same moment there was the flash of a knife and an
agonising cry from the wounded woman, and a rush upon the
assailant from all sides. I was among the number, and Brettle
recognised me with a quiet nod.
" I'm not going to struggle or bolt," he quietly observed, as
Pretty Polly was lifted from the pavement and borne insensible
into the hotel, with the blood gushing from a deep wound in
her breast. " I'm satisfied now. I have paid her off. I've
taken it out of her, and she was the only woman I ever loved ! "
Bob's grief, however, seemed quiet and tame compared with
that of Polly's second husband, upon whom the revelation came
with a shock which nearly proved fatal. Mr Harper quietly
slipped away out of Edinburgh without once asking to look on
the face of the woman who had deceived him. Brettle went
to prison, of course, and Pretty Polly, as soon as she could be
moved, was sent to the Infirmary. She lingered long, but did
not die. In about six months she was pronounced able to
leave the hospital: She appeared as witness against Brettle,
and helped to fix a year's imprisonment on him, and then she
drifted out to a life of hardship and degradation which ended
her before Brettle's sentence had expired. Brettle heard the
news unmoved when he was liberated, and then disappeared.
I have never heard of him since.
leg and fractured rib. Paying no attention to the injured wretch
or his cries, Brettle ran down the stair and made for the hotel.
A waiter at the portico told him that the Harpers were not
in, but were expected shortly. Brettle stood sentry there at the
door or near it for a full half hour, and at length was rewarded
by seeing a cab drive up, and a gentleman get out and hand
forth a sweet-faced and elegantly dressed lady—the veritable
Pretty Polly.
With a bound like that of a tiger Brettle was upon her, and
had her taper wrist clenched in his hand, and her face swung
round to the light of the street lamps with a force that almost
crushed the delicate bones.
" You jewelled serpent! " he hissed, " you would sell me to
the shambles ! Look at me, you beautiful devil, and say, it
you can, that it is not true ! "
A shriek—appalling enough to reach my ears above, and
bring me rushing down—was Pretty Polly's only answer.
Her husband, however, laid a hand on Brettle's shoulder—
" How dare you, sir ? Who are you ? "
" Her husband ! " shouted therinfuriated house-breaker ; and
at the same moment there was the flash of a knife and an
agonising cry from the wounded woman, and a rush upon the
assailant from all sides. I was among the number, and Brettle
recognised me with a quiet nod.
" I'm not going to struggle or bolt," he quietly observed, as
Pretty Polly was lifted from the pavement and borne insensible
into the hotel, with the blood gushing from a deep wound in
her breast. " I'm satisfied now. I have paid her off. I've
taken it out of her, and she was the only woman I ever loved ! "
Bob's grief, however, seemed quiet and tame compared with
that of Polly's second husband, upon whom the revelation came
with a shock which nearly proved fatal. Mr Harper quietly
slipped away out of Edinburgh without once asking to look on
the face of the woman who had deceived him. Brettle went
to prison, of course, and Pretty Polly, as soon as she could be
moved, was sent to the Infirmary. She lingered long, but did
not die. In about six months she was pronounced able to
leave the hospital: She appeared as witness against Brettle,
and helped to fix a year's imprisonment on him, and then she
drifted out to a life of hardship and degradation which ended
her before Brettle's sentence had expired. Brettle heard the
news unmoved when he was liberated, and then disappeared.
I have never heard of him since.