Читать книгу Charles Peace, or The Adventures of a Notorious Burglar онлайн

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“Indeed!—​is he in any way injured?”

“Most seriously, they say—​skull’s fractured. They have taken him to the workhouse.”

“Is nothing known about him?”

“Well, it appears that he had been drinking heavily for some hours, and the last house he called at the landlord refused to serve him. He became so violent that he had to be ejected. After that he offered to fight everybody; at length he was persuaded to go away. The last time he was seen alive was in Bedhall’s-lane; and at the end of this, near the high road, he was found in a dying condition.”

“Dear me, how very terrible! Has he been subjected to violence? Has anyone attacked him?”

“They seem to say not. When last seen he was running like mad. The supposition is that he stumbled and fell, his head striking against a heap of stones near to where he was found.”

Peace began to be seriously concerned.

“What sort of a man was he?” he enquired.

“I don’t know, but there’s a carter outside who saw him.”

Peace rose at once, and proceeded to the front entrance of the house.