The Mysteries of the Court of London Vol. 7 — page 239: what you’re looking at

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

wi SEEeseEGEMeNies =F NTE Eee eS Ee ee | Ee -_ reese: at OER = vem pra OY; THER YYATEBRIEA OF THR COURT- Es Gee qu aigresGawe S.4r eee | { <A fortnight had passed, we said—and it was CHAPTER CXXVITII. now the eve of the day fixed for the bridal. This war ty be solemnised with comparative privacy; THE STRIMOSCOPH. | axe efter the cereniony the Viscount was to bear ; uls bride away to his own palatial mansion in the | WE wast now return to that Chatouu tn the south | neighieurloud of Fontainebleau. To Zoe only of France, where Lady Octavian Meredith had for | bad M. Volnvy spoken of bis own intentions— sume while been staying with M. Volney and his | namely, to repair to some distant and retired spot, daughter Clarine. ‘Tho reader will not have for-| where he might dwell for the remainder of his gotten the many extrnordinary :ncidents which | existence. Clarine and the Viecdunt thought that were revealed to Zoo's knowledge at thnr Chateau, | he purposed to continue at the Chateau; and they —bow M. Volney had, long yeavs back, amidst the | entertained ¢he hope that in process of time he wild sublimities of Alpine acenery, takea the life | would return to his own seat, also in the vicinage of the author of his dishonour—end how Alfred! of Fontainebleau. As for Zoe herself, --she had Delorme, tho son of that murdered victios, had been | agroeg to accompany her friend Clarine and the led by a variety of circumstances to bestow his tove ; Viscount to there future home, and there to remain upon Clarine. It was through Zoe's representa. | with them for a few weeks, until she should have tions, be it likewiec remembered, that M. Volney : forte) some other plan for her future arrange- had finally assented to the untoa of hie dadghter | menta. with the young Viscount Deloreser but ho resolved | 1¢ was the eve of the bridal—the month of Sep- that immediately after the Bitdal he woyid repa:r j tembor was drawing towards a closo--and ou a to some far-off spot,—thete to bury hingelfsand | boautifal afternoon Zoe and Clarine were walking his sorrows, as well as Nis remorse, for the ra | forth together. Alfred bad passed several hours mainder of his existence. Bat to Zoe only waa, that day, as utual, at the Chateau; and he had M. Volney’s dreadful setrat coramunicated: Clarina | they gone td some neighbouring town, to mako remained in perfect i¢norance ef tre stapenlcoce'@ fow purchases of sken articles as he required for crime that sat upon her father’s souls wile | wedding-presents, and whieh eould not bo obtained Alfred Delortne was equally “fet frotk maepecting | in the village. Thun was, it that the two youn that the father of her whom he loved and edoed, | ladies wero rambiing along together amidst that was his own deovased site's marderer. »{ beautiful scenery in the neighbourhood of the On the night wien Pyrenees. in the Chateau waa- he had pene-| “‘l'o-morrow, my dear Clarino,” said Tady trated thither in a RR of etter desperation, to | Octavion Meredith, “will be a happy day for obtain an interview With Clariné that ho might you! You will adcompany to the altar one who induco her to revoke the decision she had con- | is in overy way worthy of the dovoted love veyed to him in the letter she had penned to old | yon bear him; and you are about to enter oa pre dictation. WNé was in a state of | on a complete change of existence. it ia no mind which forbade the ekeroise of the prudence longer in 4 lonely chateau that you will honce- and caution previously observed in his stealthy | forth reside—but in an elegantly furnished visits to the chatean: and thas was his pre- | mansion——” sence detected. But, after all, the incident was | “And you will accompany me thither, my a fortunate one, inasmucH as it brought nbout | dearcst friend!” said tho happy and grateful the denouement we have already doscribod ; | Clarine; “and though you havo hinted at other and on the. morning after that eventful night, } arrangements .o bo carried into effect after a Alfred Dolorme repaired to the chatean to | while, yet shall I hope to keop you altogother learn M. Volney’s decision. {Tt was given; ami | with me until—-—" he beheld himeelf the acknowledged suitor for the | But here Ula.ine stopped short,—evidently aware hand of Clarine. M. Voluey proposed that che , that the cntaatiasm of her feelings towards her bridal should be celebrated with the lensr pussible | friend Zoe bad borne her suddenly upon the fron- delay; and this was a jropositien to which the | tier of delicate ground. young couple were by no means likey tc offer any! ‘Until « change tukes place in my own position, objection. you would say?" observed Lady Octavian, in ac- -A fortnight passed ; and Alfred Delorme was a | cents of mildest melancholy. “ If you mean, dear daily visitor at the Chateau. M. Vulney had | Glavine, that happimess with my husband yet awaits difficult as Well as painful part te wey Poo com] me in thie worlds you are mistakenh——Ohb, you prehended it: she could not help hit | ore mistaken! The only chango to which I now but she regarded it as a portion of that chastipe | look forward, fs that Which the hand of death itself ‘ment which heaven decreod that be should axpe- | most accomplish.” rience in this word for the crim’ be hed quit | “Spoak sot thus, wy beloved friend!” exclaimed mitted. In ordéet to avoid the waapicios that te | Olerine, the tears trickling down ber cheeks: “ you any longer objected to tub matting of his dkugh- ;kmow not bow is afflicts me to listen tu these ter with that young to avoid thro & ‘damp tapott the apirite of the | b> 04 and resigned-——” loving couple — M. forged bimsclf tm be! “ You—resigned,” observed Zoe, “ because with frequently in their society; 00 that be ns now | Christen fortitude can I look my destiny in the more in the sitting-rooeh esd lege iss bis own étudy | face.” than wha die wont at any othet petied during his! “If you were to give @py to iamentations and revidenoé ab-ifte Chateau. But what efforts it coat | repinings, and to vehement veebursts,” continued him.66.loo Alfred Delorme watialy fh the 1ravu—to | Clarins, “they would not have apéh me the came meet the looks of him whom his own hand had | effect which this mild placid melancholia rendered fatherlese ! produces. Oh! believe me, dearest Zoe, I feel vobipmhan—in order likewise | moetafal presentiments from your lips. You ate SS (CO) COMIC OOO©