The Mysteries of the Court of London Vol. 7 — page 215: what you’re looking at

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

yneieqnetenein Qe in EE artetew~en e 202 brook’s conduct; but it was impossible to conjec- ture the motive thereof. On reaching London, the carriage put down Christian in Mortimer Street, Cavendish Square ; and thence proceeded with Christifla to Queen in- dora’s villa at Bayswater. \ CHAPTER CXXIV, UNCONSCIOUS REVELATIONS. queen Lut ua see what in the meantime hed been taking place at"tue Queen’s villa, Ter Majesty—hbaving seen Christina off in the esrriage, which was to take up her brother in Mortimer Street and bear the twina tv the grand entertainment at Balham Hill—returned to the chamber in which lay the wounded Sagoonah. The ayah had for q week continued perfectly unconscious of the-abbentions bestowed upon her; and though Indora tid no doubt as to some mischievous design having been harboured by her Hindoo dependant, she relaxed not from those ministratione which in the purest spirit of Obristian goodness were bestowed. And there lay tho guilty ayah, pillowed in « luxurious couch, with her queenly mistress watching every variation of her countenance—applying @ cooling beverage to her lips when they appeared to be dry with feverish thirst—and devoting as much sedu- lous care to the wounded female es if she were a beloved sieter whom Inaora was endeavouring to snatch from the graep of death. Seated upon a small ottoman by the side of that couch, Indora fell into a profound reverie, as she gaked upon the sleeping countenance of the ayab. “ And is it possible, Bagooneb,” she thus in- wardly apostrophised tho unconscious {nvalid—“ is it possible that you could have been culpable of ao much dissimulation and of so much wickedness P Mothought that you loved me—that you sincerely sympathized with me in all I myself felt and suf- fored at the time you agreed to accompan} me from our far-off Indian home to this western clime. But, ah! you cherished a passion for Aim whom I also loved, and whom I shall ever love so tenderly and so well! I remember a while alyo—one night when I was expecting him to Gall at the villa— that I spoke to you, Sagoonab, on the subject of love: I asked if you hed ever loved~-and I fancied that you were happy in your supposed ignorance of love’s pangs. But at that very time you loved him——Qh ! you loved him |J—and how you dis- sembled! Well, well, do I know, Sagooneb, that ths human beart has no power over its volition; and it cannot shield itself against the impressions or the images whieh by destiny’s decree are to affix themeelves upon it. Nevertheless, Sagoonah, there are duties which in suqh a case are to he per- formed ; and those duties were sot performed by you! No—for you should have told we the truth, and I should not have blamed you--—I should have pitied you. Yes—you should bave told me the truth ; and you should not have accompanied me from India. But you yielded to your own in- fatuation s you were gelfish—you were egotistical ; and in thee I have been cherishing a reptile who sought to eting me, instead of a faithful dependant 42 eooths and vomfort me. I gave you my conil- to nena ren een ess senna IE a: THE MYSTLRIES OF THE COURT. dence, Sagoonah—TI told you all my love for him! At one time I explained my hopes—at another my fears: seldom did I conceal from you my inten. tions; and all the while you were a traitress and a hypocrite {”” Indora heaved a profound sigh as she reached this point in her musings; and so deeply were her feelings touched, that tears trickled down her cheeks. Her heart was genercus—her soul mag- nanimoue; and as she had embraced the Christian fuitb, ao did she possess the purest Christain sym- pathies. Thus, even while musingly addressing her reproaches to the unconscious Sagoonab, she felt inclined to pity her as the victim of an infa- tuated and hopeless love. “ Ought I really to blame you thus?” continued the Queen, still pensively apostrophising the sleep- ing ayah; “or ought I not rather to look for as much extenuation on your behalf as circumstances admit? , For, Oh! I myself know what the power of love is--what its impulses are—and how selfish it at times renders its votarios. My own life affords ac illustration: and ‘it ie the only deed on which I have td look back with sorrow. Yes —for it wae I who kept Aim eo long a prisoner in that far-off kingdom of Inderabad; and it was cruel—it was celfisch—it wes unjuet—it was barbarous, on my part! If I therefore Have to retrospect with com- unction upon such a déed as that, ought I not to e lenient in the judgment which I pass upon thee, Sagoonah f”’ Here the Queen’s musings were suddenly inter- rupted by a restless r1oovement on Sagoonsh’s part: she tovsed her arms uneasily, and turned her head upon the pillow, as if she suffered pain either phy- sically or mentally—perheps in both ways. Tie Queen rose from her seat and hastened to quict the invalid. She took Sagoonsh’s handa in her own: ehe pressed them: then she passed one of her hands caressingly and soothingly over the smooth sured herself that the bandages of thy healing wound were not disturbed. While thus tenderly ministering tu her dependant, Queen Indora com- pletely lost sight of whatavever motives of dark misgiving and deep resentment sbe had against the aleeping woman; it was only the invalid re- quiring all her attentions that she at the momont beheld. And if anything were wanting to afford a complete illustration of the admirable qualities of Indora’s character, this deficiency was now sup- plied by the unfeijgned sincerity and unalloyed ten- derness of her behaviour towards one who had proved her enemy. Sagoonah appeared to have felt the soothing in- fluence of her kind mistrese’s caresses, though méntally unconscious that they were bestowed; for she relapsed into a state of composure. The Queen was gently resuming her seat, when it atruck her that some words were wavering upon Sagoonah’s lips, She stopped short, and listened. Yes: the ayab was wurmuring something; and this was the Brat time that a syllable had issued from thoee lips during the week which had now elapsed sincé the almost mortal wound was in- flicted. 16 wan evident that Sagoonah’s conscious ness was retgrming—and that as the lamp of tife wan regaining ite power, it wae beginning to light up the images and impressions that were most strongly marked in the cells of Sagoonah’s brain. ¢ a dusky-bued obeek of the ayai:; and then she as- . — a SP =O saat COLUM LOAO© SS (CO)