The Mysteries of London, Vol. IV — page 79: what you’re looking at

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a Te a Cc ee 72 narrow foot were as faultless in proportion as if a sculptor had modelled them to his own exquisite but voluptuous taste. A neat straw bonnet and an ample shawl completed her attire ;—and now well, but by no means splendidly nor elegantly dressed, Perdita ap- peared a creature so exceedingly handsome, that even her mother was surprised as much as she was de- lighted. And, as fur the old woman herself, she had assumed an air of greater respectability than at first might have appeared possible—seeing that her look was sinister and repulsive, and her countenance so weather- beaten and marred by suffering! Forth went the mother and daughter into the streets of London ;—and their first care was to pur- chase a variety of articles of attire of a far better kind than that which they had just procured,—likewise alittle jewellery and the necessary paraphernalia of the toilette. The goods were all sent to the coffee- house where they had hired a chamber; and a couple of large trunks were the last objects they bought, and which were despatched to the same place. These matters having been accomplished, the old woman conducted her daughter into the fashionable quarter of Regent Street; and there Perdita beheld enough to excite her wonder and hor admiration. ‘The magnificent shops—the fine buildings—the splendid equipages—and the handsemely dressed gentlemen on horseback, all shared her attention in ‘heir turns :—nor yas she, an observer, unobserved —for many an old voluptuary and stripling gallant pauscd to bestow a second glance upon the plainly but decently dressed young female whose countenance was so strikingly beautiful, and in whose looks there was a subdued wantonness engendering the most voluptuous sensa- tions, To Perdita’s mother how altered did London secm! Here was a strect which she had never seen before— there a street had been pulled down to make way for some great thoroughfare. Here buildings once familiar had disappeared: there strange edifices had sprung up! In Regent Street she looked for the shops at which she had been accustomed to deal long years before, when she dwelt in the immedirte neighbourhood, and when she was deemed a saint: but most of the estab- lisLments she suught had changed their proprictors and their nature,—a grocer’s having become a book- echer’s, a milliner’s a china warehouse, andsocn. She had a great mind tv pass into Burlington Street; but she had not quite the necessary courage todo that—at least for the present. Having threaded Regent Strect from Oxford Circus to Waterloo Place, the two women turned into Pall Mall West, along which they proceeded for a short distances when the mother suddenly clasped her daughter's arm almost violently, exclaiming in a hasty whisper at the same time, “ This 1s the mansion of the Earl of Ellingham!” Searcely were these words uttered, when the door was opened, and forth came Charles Hatfield. Passing by the two females without noticing that he had im- mediately become the object of theif most earnest uttention,—and indeed, without observing them at all, eo deevly was he absorbed in thought,—he moved on nt a stow and uncertain pace, as if he had merely come out to seek the fresh air, and having no particular destination. Yes:—he had indeed bevom2 tac cynosure of attraction on the part of the old woman and her daughter,—the former devouring him with her eyes, ee ee THE MYSTERIES OF LONDON. in order tu read lis character and disposition in his countenance, and assure herself from that physiogno- mical perusal that he was fitted for her purpose,—and the latter embracing with a look of ardent, wanton ecrutiny every feature of his fine face and every pro- portion of his symmetrical form. He passed on:—and for a few minutes the mother and daughter preserved a deep silence, each occupied with her own thoughts. “That young man may be rendered pliant and docile according to our will,” said the old woman at lenzth. “He is beyond all doubt the one whom the gipsy alluded to in such glowing colours,” observed Perdita, with a voluptuous Janguor in the eyes, a flushing of the cheeks, and a slow but deep heaving of the bosom. “And he has something on his mind—that is clear !* added the old woman. “Which we will soon make him d‘yulge to us,” said Perdita. “ But how do you intend to proceed in order to form his acquaintance?” “Oh! nothing is more casy!” returned her mother. “Tn the first place we must take handsome lodgings. [ know of a nice, quiet, retired street in the neizhbour- hood. Come along, Perdita—we must not waste valu- able time.” The two women repaired direct to Suffolk Street, Pall Mall East ; and in the window of a house of hand- soine appearance they saw a card announcing fur- nished apartments to be let. The lodgings were speedily inspected and hired, the prepayment of a month’s rent immediately ensuring the good opinion of the landlady and rendering references unnecessary. Back to the coffee-house in the vicinity of Covent Garden did the wanderers hasten; and in a few minutes all their packages and new purchases were transported to a hackney coach, which was fetched from the nearest stand. ‘The coflee-house keeper was liberally rewarded, and a handsome fee was bestowed upon the driver of the vehicle to induce him to state, in case of being questioned in Suffolk Street, that he had brought the ladies from some respectable hotel. All these matters being arranged, the mother and daughter proceeded in the hackney-coach to their new lodgings, where they at once took up their quar- ters under the imposing name of Mrs. and Miss Fitz- hardinge. Had the worthy butcher who a few hours previously took pity on the two ragged, sinking mendicants, and sustained their strength and courage by means of hot brandy-and-water at the Elephant and Castle—had he now beheld Mrs. and Miss Fitzhardinge sitting down, elegantly attired, at a well spread dinner-table, and at the fashionable time of six in the evening,— he would not fur aninstant have supposcd that the way-worn beggars of the morning’s adventure and the ladies of Suffolk Street, Pall Mall, were indentical: or if, by chance, he should have recognised Perdita’s handsome countenance, he would have thought that the delusions of enchantment had been practised upon him or her. And now we have prepared the way, with due pre- fatory explanation, for one of the most striking and remarkable episodes in this narrative.-—an episode showing how Perdita’s arts and Perdita’s beauty ac- complished aims which women of less enterprise than herself and her mother would Lave deemed impos- rible. praved and wanton Perdita wielded by means of her transcendant charms! ¢? Oh! fatal influence—that influence which the dee ee ee ees eee re ee a — (SO) GIOOKS (SO)