A White Face And A Black Mask. By The Author Of "The Buccaneers,"  "The King’s Highway," &c. Reynolds’s  Miscellany. Volume 37, Number 941. Saturday, June 23, 1866.
Chapter IV.
The Old Pocket-Book And The Young Girl.
Claude Night, as may be supposed, made as hasty an exit from the scene of the duel as he well could, and then as hastily, with the precious packet secured in his doublet, passed along in the direction of London Bridge.
Old London Bridge, with its crowd of ill-built wooden houses, would strike queerly on the eye of a modern citizen; but to Claude, fresh from a wearisome imprisonment, it only offered the familiar aspect of an old friend.
He knew every nook of it - every house on it; and he could have found his way about in the thickest darkness.
Passing safely the inspection of the watch at the portcullis, he proceeded immediately towards an hostel, where he knew he would be well received, and his incognito respected, and where he would be able to examine that packet in peace, and then settle his next movements.
It was not a particularly inviting-looking place, but Claude was not fastidious, and he went in, and saluting the buxom hostess in the way which he knew was considered most courteous by her, if not her spouse, he managed to whisper in her ear not to show any surprise, but to show him quickly to a private chamber.
"Thou’lt have to climb a little, captain," said the gay lady, as she led him into a small stable-yard at the back ; "but the ladder’s safe enough for a sure foot, and I can promise you quiet there at any rate. How did ye get out of Newgate, captain ?I thought I should ha’ screeched when I saw ye."
"I’m glad, then, you thought twice about it, Moll. I’ll aloft now, and keep my story till I come down. To tell you the truth, you’ve got a customer or two, who, on my word, are ill-favoured knaves."
"Nay, nay, Claude Night, not knaves, though, perhaps, ill-favoured. It isn’t all the world that’s got your good looks you know." A compliment of course, which Claude, in spite of his hurry, was obliged to acknowledge suitably by an emphatic embrace before he proceeded to obey his hostess’s direction, and mount a ladder which, resting against the back of the house, apparently led to a garret at the top.
It was not sumptuous accommodation, but it was certainly private, and our hero saw with satisfaction, that he might safely examine his packet by the light of a battered lantern, hanging against the wall.
He had bought that pocket-book with a man’s life ! Was it worth it ?
His eyes - those blue-grey eyes so keen, so intense - quite glittered, as he sat down on some straw, and undid the string. He believed he was on the point of discovering that secret which had been the desire of his life to know, and which the dead man had so wrongfully kept from him.
He believed he should know now the secret of his birth.
From the time he could remember anything, he had been homeless and relationless.
He seemed to belong to no one, and no one to belong to him.
He lived among the outcasts of society, and by them he was reared, till old enough to have a will of his own and wield a sword, then he turned from one thing to another, till the name of Claude Night was known far and wide through England, and it ended with finding him a cell in Newgate, and a sentence to the gallows.
From time to time, however, this man, this Hubert Lester, had crossed his path. In his early years he seemed somehow to direct those who were concerned with his bringing-up; and later, he had taken every opportunity to taunt and show him hatred.
Constantly he had told him that a word of his could make him a nobleman, and more than once he had absolutely shown him that packet, and told him that in it lay his fortune.
Perhaps the idea that Hubert Lester would triumph over him to the last, gave to the anticipation of death its sharpest sting ; at any rate, the knowledge that the man was lying stiff and cold before himself, gave him a satisfaction that was certainly more natural than Christian.
"Now," he muttered, as the string gave way, - "who knows what might come to light now?"
He turned deadly pale as he stooped over the papers, and for a quarter of an hour his hard breathing quite echoed throughout the garret.
Then, however, he sprang to his feet, and with a tremendous oath, dashed the book to the ground, and stamped, with almost maniacal fury upon it.
He was disappointed. There was only an old letter from some lawyer, and a few memoranda in Lester’s own handwriting.
There was not a vestige of anything concerning a secret - not a word that could possibly relate to himself.
"The accursed dog - the accursed liar !" he muttered, clenching his hands, and stamping up and down the garret. "But he has paid his lie with his life !"
"Hush, hush !" said a sweet, low voice, suddenly breaking on his startled ear. "Hush, hush, Claude ! - walls have ears you know !"
He looked round in surprise, and placed his hand on his sword ; but this caused a merry laugh, quickly hushed though, to ring through the garret ; and the next instant a door, which he had not before perceived, was pushed open, and a small, light figure entered.
Even by the dim light of the battered lantern the girl’s extreme loveliness was clearly visible ; and in spite of the terrible mood he was then in , Claude Night turned and smiled upon her.
She was very young, and though rather under the middle height than otherwise, proportioned as exquisitely as a Grecian statue. Her face, sweet, but richly beautiful, it was impossible to gaze upon without admiring, and almost loving ; and to complete her charms, hair of a rich, sunny golden hue fell in clustering curls around her neck.
Her dress was shabby, and much worn, and on her arm she carried a small basket of oranges.
"Ha, sweet Nell ! you are the only creature who would find it safe to come up here just now," said Claude, in spite of himself looking down softly on her wondrously lovely face.
"And so Mistress Moll told me," answered the girl. "But methought, Master Claude, however busy you might be, you would find a moment to say ‘good even’ to Nell Gwynne. Besides -"
She paused, and, setting down her orange-basket, looked up in his face with something very shining in  her bright, kind eyes.
"To tell you the truth, Claude Night, I wouldn’t believe it was you when Moll told me, unless I saw you with my own eyes. I never thought to speak to you again."
"Ay, Nell, and it is for the last time, my sweet one. I’m only a prisoner on parole."
"A what ?"
"I’ve only left my prison for a few hours, to do a deed that has proven useless, Nell," - and he interrupted himself to stamp again on the pocket-book. "I have sworn to go back to Newgate, and to-morrow there’ll be a sight for the good burghers and ‘prentices."
"Go back!" murmured Nell, -"go back, when you’ve once escaped ! Are you mad, Claude?"
"I have not escaped. Old Jakes let me out, and his neck answers for mine."
The orange-girl looked up perplexed, and then, sinking down on the straw, she put up her shapely little hand to hide her tears.
"If I could but help you, Claude - if I could but help you !"
"I’d ask thee, Nell. Nay, sweet one, don’t weep tears for me, though there’s not a woman on earth I’d sooner have shed for me than thine. After all, Nell, I’ve earned my doom, hard though it be."
"I’ll not believe it. What evil have you done that hundreds of the Court gallants do not do every day ? Do they not stab and kill each other, and rob the poor ? Even you, Captain Night, spare the poor, and levy your toll on the rich only."
But, unfortunately, Nell Gwynne’s view of the case was particularly her own ; and even the highwayman felt it was a too flattering one.
"Would to heaven thou wert my judge, Nell !" he said, throwing himself beside her on the straw. But scarcely had he ventured to throw his arm around her light form, and draw her to him, when a shrill whistle sounded from below, and Nell started to her feet.
"that’s the signal ! Hark ! I must be off ! Moll told me that she would warn me ; and you, Master Night, had better hie from hence ! I know not who they were below, but methinks they were an ill-favoured, currish-looking set."
"Thou’rt right, Nell. I thought the same; so now -" But again the whistle sounded more shrilly than before, and taking up her basket, the girl sprang off with the bound of a young fawn, and disappeared through the door.
Night listened for a moment a little anxiously, then collecting the papers again in the pocket-book, he restored them to his doublet, and proceeding to the ladder, crept noiselessly down again into the yard.
His caution now, however, was prompted by friendship to Jakes rather than any anxiety to himself.
To a man who was to lose his life on the morrow, it mattered little what scrapes he got into during the few intervening hours; and whether he killed two or three men, or lost his own life in a street or tavern struggle he cared not.
It still wanted a couple of hours to daybreak - for, in those days, people kept earlier hours - and all this had taken place with extraordinary rapidity. Should he return to Newgate, or enjoy the time that still remained in freedom ?
He hesitated; for the disappointment coming at a moment when he believed himself so certain of success, had, for a time at least, depressed him so that he really felt indifferent; and then he was on the point of determining to go back to prison, when he felt a hand laid on his shoulder.
A jolly hand it was, though it happened to be directed by Fate.
"Faith, then, captain, surely you would not sneak off without a stoup of ale, or a sup of good French brandy?" said Mistress Moll’s pleasant voice.
"I never refuse good gifts, good Mistress Moll, you know; but to-night, your company displeased me, and I thought it better wisdom to keep out of it."
"Well, well; a wilful man must ha’ his way, I suppose; but for all that, Master Night, you must drink your usual glass for luck!"
And then, as she pushed the door behind her, by the light that streamed out, Claude saw, to his satisfaction, that in her hand she already held a cup and a bottle.
Nothing loth, he tossed off a draught, and then paying with a kiss, a coin of which he was usually liberal, once again he took his departure.
End of Chapter IV.