The Mysteries of the Court of London Vol. 4 — page 399: what you’re looking at

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

= Ce) eee ee ae = = = = ony quww wn -e~ Fs Vere WS eens See te See TT enkew os ae wa =35 we ww == ee De bh An individual qt onee spraur to their side, ear. THE MY-TFRIES ap — om wrens § Gap eybetem: qin) Cp Beet amie See ee ee ————eEeEeEeEeEEEEeEeeEE en eg O-2 a tS OF THE COURT. from the Lausanne shore ; and laekily when the nestly bidding them hold fust to the back of the | violence of the ust had expanded, itself the waves seat, whith was fixed upon the deck: who had’ shown sv much politeness and sywpathy towards thetn on a former occasion. He himself, be:ny a stcanyver in Switzerland, was altogether pnacquainted with the nature of the im- pending da.rerr: but we imy as well at once ex- plain it to our readers. Luke Leman is at certatu seasons of the year subject to a sudden agitation of its surface produced hy sub-aqueous winds,— these winds blowinf with much violence from the depths of the lake, and stirring up the mass of water into high and dangerous billoys. When- ever this phenomenon discloses itself, squalls from the south usually folléw without much loss of time ; and these often sweep with terrific fury over that inland sea. It was to guard again: t the effects of any abruptly arising gust, that the captain had issued such quick orders and with such vehement gesticulation,<so0 that the sails might be furled, tne top-masts struck, and every precaution adopted against whatever emergeucy should arise. Nor was the danger leug in manifesting itself with frightful reality. For while the clomsy vessel and they | ceased to break ia surges arouad him, but rolled immediately recosnized the young Englishman | only ina long coutinueus awell. To be brief, he succecded in meeting the oat, into which his in- animate charge wae first lifted by the two fishies men who rowed the little bark; aud in a fiw moe ments he also was in safety. The packet-vessel went down, causing o fresh whirlpool antl then a heavy swell: but the captain, together with his sailorg and some cight or ten of the passengers, iucluding three or fonr women, were rescued from a watery grave by the Loats which had put off. ull of an intense anxiety was the glanve which the young Englishman flung argund ujon the survivors of the catastrophe when all who could bo saved were saved and sate in the boats: but amongst them he beheld not- Mrs. Owen, and he -therefore knew—as indeed he had already spspected—that she was amongst the missiny. Before the boats reached the landing-place on | the Lausanne shore, Mary awoke to life; and as her senses returned, Beeordipanied with painful sen- sations and short convulsive gaspings, the light of memory a'sy burnt up again, It was with astranze wis tossing and pitching on the upheaving billows, } and startling suddenness that she sprang up from the clouds above the mountains of Savoy far away tothe south, seemed suddenly to part in twhin; and then the next moment—or ipdeed qulek as the éeyecan wink—the wildly gushing blast swept with terrific violence over the surface of the lake, Im- mediately the packet-ship heeled over aud fell cam- pletely on its broadside, the top of the mast tonch- ing the water. Terrific cries and pieralug shrieke rent the nir; and in a moment nearly every soul on board was struggling in the lake, batsling fur life minidst the waves. the haif-embrace in which the young Englishman held her, and threw a wild glance around. ‘The other boats were close by that in which she and her companion were: and with one brief sweeping igok did she learn the worst. Her mother was nat to be seen! Thenshe flung her horritied glance upon the Englishman ; and in his countenauce she reud the fatal contirmation of the truth. mother was gome—and not more piercing was any shrick that had a-cended up to heaven frum the The oareering billows seemed . engulfed passenzers at the moment the vessel Her | rushing madly on, dashing over the sinking ship, upset, than was the wild scream which now thrilled and then sudideuly merging into one vast whirlpool, ; forth from the lips of the orphan girl, But while in which the drowning and the swimming were for ; it was still vibrating in the ail, she fell een afew instants swept round aud round as ifthey deplived of consciousness —as if stricken by a were incre straws upon the surging eddies, ‘Tie ; thunderbolt; and was caught in the arms of hia captain and the sailurs had alone managed to ciing | who had saved her from the waters of Lake fist to the ship at the stant she went over: but | Leman. they were now fighting for their own lives amidst} When she againrecovered hef senses, she found she dangers of the wreck and against the fury of the | herself lying in a bed ina wei-furnished room, storm, so that they were unable, even if walliny, to | with @ physician and a nurse by the side of the render any assistance to the passengers. ,~{ couch. She was in an hutel at Lausanne, whither The catastrophe was witnessed from the shore } the young Englishian had borne her, aud where at the foot of the eminence on which Lausauue ts | he lad surroundéd her with all the requisite atten- wuiits and two or three bowts speedily put off, | j tions. Dut oy thus re awakening to conscious- But In the meantine the greater number of the | passengers — men and wometi—had been en- vulfed in the depths of that builing lake; and | only to experience the orphan's fate. | ree ee ens ' meena xmouget them was Mrs. Owen. Mary was how- evir caught in the arms of one who swam with strength and expertuess ; and encumbered though he were by the fair object of his sylicitude, it never- theless seemed as if he acquired additional energy from the feeling of responsibility that her life as well as his own depended upon his cvolness,, his presence of mind, aud the exertions he might make: Fortunately Mary was insensible; and thu she marred uot his progress, nor increased the danger of both their predicaments by wildly cling- ing to him, av abe would instiuctively have done if in full possession of her senses, Sustainiug her in one arm, he struck out with the other,—his eye &xed upon the uearest boat that was approaching ther behalf ness, poor Mary felt that she had better have ferished in Lake Leman than have been rescued lier grief for the loss of her mother knew no bounds; and she seemned beyond ail consvlation. Thus three or four days passed: bat at length the violence of her anguish diminished—not be- cause she felt less than at first, but because she perceives the necessity of resigning hersetf to the will of heaven. Moreover the thought gradually stole into her mind that the more she gave way to her affliction, the longer would she remain de- pendent upon the kindness of the generuus- hearted friend who had not merely saved her lite, but was continuing to manifest so sincere an interest in There was another reason, too, which urged her to summon all her fortitude ty her aid : and this was the discovery of her mother’s cui poe. LDOC Cy COUN ( <S CO