The Mysteries of the Court of London Vol. 7 — page 321: what you’re looking at

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

08 hitber, But I must not remain in conversation here: the solemn proceedings of tae tribunal must eommence{" Having thus spoken, Indora returned into the vast apartment hung with blieck; while Purvis hurried off in another direction to exeoute her Majesty's orders in reapect to Obriatina Ashton. On re-entering the state-roon: wich had been fitted up with so much awful solemnity, and which in some respects resembled an inquisitorial scene of remoter and darker ages, Indora resumed her seat upon the throne. Nothing now remained changed in respect to the appearance of that apartment from what it was when we described it at the opening of the chapter. Upon the throve on the dais Queen Indora sat again—a veiled female and a masked man on her right—two veiled women and one masked man on her left. " There too were the sable draperies on the walls—the black pall upon the ceiling—the ghastly white covering upon the floor. And still hkewise was the strange mysterious light burning within that inner room the door uf which stood partially open. “ About five minutes had elapsed after the return of Queen Indora from her interview with the Duchess’ of Marehmont; and again was the sable drapery agitated on one side of the room. The doer which that drapery covered had just opened -—the hangings themselves parted for an instant —and the Duke of Marchmont was conducted in by the two Hindoos who kad brought him in their custody from London, These Hindoos were officers in the household of the Royal Commie- sioners who a few weeks back had arrived from Inderabad to announce to Indora the death of her father and the intelligence that a throne awaited her. The two Hindoos were dressed in their gorgeous uniforms, the «eplendours of which contrasted strongly with the sombre gloom of that awful tribunal. The Duke of Miarchmont was blind- folded; and his hands were held behind him by his Hindoo+guards. But as if nothing should be wanting to complete the solemnity of the whqle scene, and to render it ae strikingly terrible as possible to him whose eyes were about to be un- bandaged that they might gase upon it, the two guards themselves were masked. Qne of them had his sabre drawn in his hand, al an emblem that bis royal mistress wielded a power which it would be vain fur the captive criminal to dis- pute. The Duke of Marchmont was conducted up to the front of the thronc,—at a distance of about half-a-dozen yards from which his guards made a halt. They then unfastened the kerchief which bandaged his eyes. From the description already given of the entire scene, the reader may possibly imagine the extent of the awe-inspiring terror with which it thus suddenly burst upon March- mont’s view. Utterly unconsious was he before- hand of the spectacle that his gaze was thus to encounter; and when ‘we consider what this epec- tacle was, and likewise bear in mind that the Duke of Marcbmont’s conscience was stained with count- Jaes crimes, it will require but little effort of the imegination for the reader to conceive the effect uced upon him. Having only within the last w days risen from a bed of sickness—still suffer- ing physically, and incessantly tortured by all the cee aE ~SEeeetes —— ——— ee a rr nena om THE MYS3RRIBS OF THE COURT. am bl eS Gees 32 ee ee ee Es -= en ewe) aap 2 ee, Pe ee eee e > Oe Sees Oo eee 8 ee -—— ae veimiet «2 — owe wild apprehensions which had originally thrown him on the couch of fever—the Duke of March- mont was but the shadow of his former self. 6o emaciated was his form that his garments appeared to hang upon him as if they bad been made for another person: his countenance was thin, wan, and ghastly: his eyes were sunken in their sockets, the blueish tint of which enhanced the horrible aspect of their cavernous, depths. Were it not that he was prepared for something dreadful, he could not possibly have sustained the shock which the appearance of the tribunal produced upon him as the bandage fell from his eyes. He stnggered, and, would have fallen were it not that hie guards sustained him, He beheld Queen Indora seated~upon that throne; and it seemed to his appalled fancy that her’s was now 2 terrible beauty, and that there was the aspect of the avenging Nemesis in her majestic Inoks. He gianced to her right—he glanced to her left: who were those veiled and masked figures? His gaze wandered Seleewhere: what meant that hght e@reaming* forth from the inner roomP what mysteries or what horrors were concealed by that open door?" He glanced upon his guards: they were now masked—although he had previously secon their countenances when they had appeared at his mansion in Belgrave Square to summon him in Queen Indora’s name to Oaklands. Oh! woll indeed had all her Majesty’s arrangements been combined to produce tke most awful effects on the Duke of Marchmont’s guilty soul ! It often happens that when a man who has for some time foreseen the wreck of fame, fortune, ravk, and safety, is suddenly brought face to face with the tremendous convulsion itself, the courage of utter desperation seizes upon him. And thus was it with the Duke of Marchmont. All ina moment the most powerful revulsion of feelings took place within him; and he clutched at the wild hope that he might yet save himself by pre- senting a bold front to this tribunal inethe pre- sence of which he stood. And then, too, perhaps the thought struck him that the tribunal was only so formed in order to terrify him into confessions and extort from him avowals without which no good case could be made out against him. Per- haps likewise he fancied that there might be an inclination in another quarter to spare him as much as possible, and that his own brother was chivalrous enough to make the most fearful self- sacrifice that man could possibly make for the purpose of avoiding a terrific exposure that should startle the whole world. Four if it were not so— and if these conjectures were not fraught with reasons for hope—why should all those proceedings be arrayed in mystery and darkness against him P why should not everything have been left to the regular course of human justice and to the de- velopment of legitimate process in the public tri- bunals ? But whatever were the thoughts, the calcula- tions, the conjectures, or the hopes of the Duke of Merchmonts—ocertain it is that he suddenly as- sumed a different bearing from that which he had at first worn. He summoned all his effrontery to his aid: desperation’s self nerved him to play a neck-or-nothing game,—to listen to ali that might be charged against him——to ascertain precisely in what circumstances he was plaved—to envisage the ES eS eS ie ee ee _ eT LOAO© COLUM SS (CO)