The Mysteries of the Court of London, Vol. 5 — page 144: what you’re looking at

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

aa 0 THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. LK | A TD Ts AER ERE OM lls el ce ee ee so ee ee a ee ee eee ©, A, eer cae —- . —— at = ee — a few minutes back I had been hurrying forward to , hewever much leisure, permitted for meditation bury them along with myself in the deep waters of : bevause the Englishman hurried us all down to 4 the Seine. Oh! you can scarcely think ill of me, | plain carriage that was waitine in the court yard of > Es Ra Oe: eS Ee EE sagen Ww a ties sae ConMance, when I cOnfess that I found the offer too : the hotel, and we drove off to the British Ambassa- | cheering, too magnificent, to be refused, and that | dor’s chapel, which was at no great distanco. I | | instead of taking twenty-four hour? or even tweive | should observe that the ladies were simply dressed ; liours to reflect upon the point, I gave my estent af} with no conspicuous evidences that this was o bridal once. The Englishman then told me his own name | party. All the preliminaries for: the sulomn cere- _ and that of the young lady to whom I was to bo married. Her sirname wes quite different from : : . parated~and I was ov longer bouscless por penni- raony had been arranged with due cnre; so that on reaching tho chapol we found the Chaplain aud his own; and therefore I did got suppose her to be | clerk in attendance; and the proceedines at once atrange sensation as I wont through that ccremony. My conscience smote me with a pang rescinbling u rermuorse: for I could not help feeling that it was a veritable mockery of dhe of the holiest rites of the Christian Church. I glanced towards my bride, and observed that she was still as calm, collected, and even indifferont as if it were some ordinary trans- action, end not one of the scrious character that it really was. For in thus bestowing her hand upun the case? and he said she was not—but he en- joined me nob to question him any farther, as there was 60 deep a mystery attatched to this young lady an the necessity for maintaining it was ao absolute, he must decline furnishing xae with any clue for its unravelment. Hoe*then placcti a purse of money in my hand and bade me meet “him at the sume place on the following day, at eleven o’clogk. Ye ae- *his dauyhter. I however asked him if such = I must. canfeas that I experienced o | less: byt throughout the night I could scarcely close | me, was not. thie young woman, in the vigour of my eyes in slumber. . The proposition to which I | youth and in the bloom of her beauty, suicidally de- had assented was so cRtraordingry that again and | stroying alf hope ot ever enjoying real happiness in again did I hesitate whether to proceed any farther | the wedded state? In short, by this very marrin:ze in the matter: but the grim gawnt spoctre of | with me, was she not shutting hergolf’ out {rom the poverty constantly roso up before my eyes and | prospect of over marrying ansher, however decply made all my scruples vanish. Morning came; and | she might be Jed to love and owever fondly slic ' with gome portion of the money cuntained in’the | might be beldved in return? But it is useless nuw . purse I made such improvements m my toilet aa} to moralise on all the features and associations of ' were suitable for the ceremony about to take place. | that mysterious transact‘o1. Suffice it to suy that . J s ener eee a ‘one of which he requested me to be seated for a Punctual to the hour was | at the wine-shop ;—the | tle ceremony gras accomplished, and that the young Englishman had already arrived and was waiting | lady within the space of a few brief minutes was for me. He doubtless suw by my looks that I had | made Marchioness of Villebelle. .We all re-entered not changed my mind; and he did not therefure ask | the carriage, and returned to the hotel,—the Envy. me the question. A backney-coach was summoned, | lishman and his wife conversing the whole time on and he ordered it to take us to an hetel, which he | general and indifferent topics, for the evident pur- nained, in another part of Paris. On arriving ; pose of prevonting that awkwardness and embarrass. there, he introduced me to a suite of,apartments, in | ment which under guch extraordinary oircunstances would have otherwise prevailed. On arriving ut the hotel, the three ladies each shook handy with me and bade me adien,-»my wile exhibiting no mare excitement or emotion than the other two. They then all three passed to the inner rvom, and I re- mained alone with the Englishman. He forthwith bogan to count down a number of bank-notes upon the table; and as he thus psid me the promised re- word for the singular and mysterions service [ had reodeed, ho said, ‘Do not think that because we aro now about to p&rt, I shall altogether lose sizlit of. you. If fortune smiles upon you and you cun- tinue independent ef any friendly aid, you will never hear from me: but if adversity overtakes you and you fall into poverty again, you may rely upon receiving succour from my hand. And now, fare- well,’—This was 8 hint for me to take my departure at once; anda can hasuse you, my dear Constance, ‘that I had no inclination to remain—for I already began not merely to loathe mysel!, but likewise all who were connéeted with the transaction.” he Marquis of Villebello coased; and Constance few minutes. He then passed into an inner room, and shortly re-appeared, accompanied by three ladics. One was nearly as old as Kimself, and whoin he introduced as his wife. Andther was much younger, and ,was intended to act as bridcs- maid. [ believe she was somy' relation of his, but I do not exactly know of what degreo. The third was the young lady on whom I was to bestow yny name. She was indeed handsome—very hand- some. Do not be jealous, Constance, at the obser- vation I have made; for while doing justice to her personal appearance, I may with equal candour de- clare that her’s was not « style of beauty adapted to my taste. On this part of my narrative I will not however dwell. Suffice it to eay that she appeared to treat the strange proceeding with a coldness almost amountily to.an indifference that was not tha least extraordinary feature in the whole transaction: for I could not help asking myself of what nature might be the circumstances that.renderad necessary so sin- gular a matrimonial alliauge ?. To. bestow upon that | young lady « husband who was. to be no husband at | Farefleld sat gazing upon him with looks of nun- all—to give her a name whicl: she might bear in the | gled commiseration and uncertainty. She pitied world apart from him ef whomyeiGbad derived it~ | him for all he had gone through—she could scarcely to make her a wife, yet leave: Bee'to a single and | blame hini for the step be had taken, under euch pe- virgin state of existence, if chaste ahe really were | culiar circumstances, in order to save himeelf from and meant to continue,—ell this seemed‘so mwon- | the horrors of poverty and the dismal alternative of strous, so unnatural, that I shrank frdm the bare | suicide: but she was bewildered how she berself idea on being introduced tw» her. There was not | could thenceferth act toward him. Suddenly a re- . eee owe Oe ee ees Oe eee ee eee eee See eee eee ees se ees ee 8 = ee ee o> eee eee rm = _- ie a ee a ee a Se oe = Ee a ee COMIC OOO© SS (CO)