The String of Pearls (1850), p. 681

"No—no. But I have business."
"Exactly so, sir. That's it."
"Yes," added Todd, in quite a contemplative tone of voice, "the fact is, that I have just heard that at Gravesend there resides a family, with whom I was once intimate, but had lost sight of. They have, as I hear, dropped into poverty,

TODD RESORTS TO A FRIGHTFUL STRATAGEM WITH A MOTHER AND CHILD.{Figure}

amounting to destitution, and I could not rest until I had gone after them to relieve them."
"Did you sav Gravesend?" said the old man.
"Why yes; but I don't ask you to go so far. I will try and find a conveyance on land at Greenwich; but—if—you like to pull all the way to Gravesend, I don't mind paying for I prefer the water."