The String of Pearls (1850), p. 601

Away rode the magistrate, and now he put his horse, which was a good one, to a smart trot, and made his way to Colonel Jeffery's house in a very short space of time ; for London was not quite so large as it is now, and it was not a day's journey to go from one house to another if your friends happened to reside at different ends of the town. The colonel, at that hour of the morning, was

TODD ALARMS THE TWO BOW STREET OFFICERS.{Figure}

and walking in his garden. When Sir Richard Blunt was announced, he guessed at once that something very unusual had taken place; and after shaking his hand,
he said—
"I know there's some news, Sir Richard. Is it pleasant, or the other way?"
"In truth," said Sir Richard, "that is a question I can scarcely answer you