The Mysteries of London, Vol. IV — page 112: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ee tr ne eT SF A Sn lott han tag ET 1 TUE MYSTERIES OF LONDON. ICS | : Le a | | oe SSS —— Hi mn q } AD us ciamonds into an abyss, were I not to secure the brilliant advantages thus placed within my reach ?” “Daughter,” exclaimed the old woman, with diffi- culty preventing a complete outburst of her fury, “I tell you that this may not be! Secure Charles Hat- field—or rather Viscount Afarston—as your paramour : Z will undertake to raise as much money, as you can persuade him to lavish upon you;—and then—then, my child,” she added, adopting a tone of fawning con- ciliation, ‘* you can choose a new lover and make in- roads into another’s fortune.” “T am determined to pursue and tullow out the plan which my own convictions indicate as the most rations!—the most sensible—the most advisable!” exclaimed Perdita; “and, therefore, the present dispute ig useless and absurd.” “ Dispute!” repeated Mrs. litzhardinge, her coun- tenance again becoming absolutely livid, and her whole form trembling with rage: “Ido not choose to dis- pute with you, insolent girl that you are! Now listen to me, Perdita—and know once.for all that I wild be obeyed in this, as in all things—or I will abandon you to your own resources—J will hurl you back into Tas, want. and poverty-——” Not while I possess this beauty of which a queen No,.66% .—Mysrertrs of Lonvpon. ee a ee ent might be proud!’ said Perdita, in a quiet manner, as she glanced with self complacency at her own hand- some countenanee as it was reflected in a mirior opposite. “Oh! think not that beauty is the only element of fortune!” cried the old woman, surveying her daugh- ee a, a ee cee Ss 6S —— ter with almost an expression of fiend-like hate: “ for, if you dare to thwart me, Perdita, I will become your bitterest and most malignant enemy, though you are my own child:—I will pursue thee with my ven- geance ;—wherever you may be, I will spoil all your machinations and ruin all your schemes ;—nay, more— I will compel your very loves to thrust you igno- miniously forth from them! Yor I will boldly proclaim how that Perdita who has enthralled them, was accursed from her very birth—born in Newgate—thence taken by her mother to a penal colony, where she became lost and abandoned at the early age of thirteen— and how every handsome young officer in garrison at Sydney could boast of the favours of this vrefligate young creature !” A mocking laugh came from the lips of Perdita,— a lang’ ‘hat rang more horribly in the ears of her mother .ban an explosion of maledictions, recrimina- tions, and insults would have dune,—a laugh tha’ ee ee ee (C(O) DOO (SO)