The Mysteries of the Court of London, Vol. 5 — page 276: what you’re looking at

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

8 nectar mm. Sete green eS emg THE een - THE COURT. i } ) t | Rene pee Sha did not therefore immediately retirg to reat Perhaps, in addition to all that we have just detailed, there were still darker and deeper ti-ars hauntitig ber mind, excited by the methories-of th® past and | ethe associations of. the present, She felt afraid to enter her couch. But at log literally ashamed of ber terrors, sho sad nlou my part is preposterous! 11 ae and ahe bdvanced towards the bed. But obedient toan irresttibld Srapélae, the stooped down, raised the drapery, and Wboked under It. No object of alarmenet her eyes; and rising up again, she once moro blaithed horsolf for her sity fears. Bat still she had not the courage to'lie dowd; and ohnost before she wes aware of it, she fourid terself lookiug into the cupboards, and with the lamp in. her hand taking 4 cluso survey « of thé apartment. Even to cho dressing-room opening thence, and to a bath-room which lay beyond, did she push her investigation: bué still stie discovered vonage to alarm her. : Now,” she said to herself’. “T will lie iowa: ” i hut as she agaia approached the quch, she oxpo- rienced a vague and@lecpeniag terror for. which she could nut altogethér account. Replacing tho latap upon tho table, she stood hesitating in the middle of the room. She caught o glimpse of her countenance in the mirror agspentled “above the tuilet-table, and saw that it was.very palé. Her own looks fr ightened her, and a cold shuider swept through her entire framo,. Lor glossy black hair was gathered up beneath an elegant cap—a morning wrapper env eloped her suporb form —her naked. feet were thrust into* embroidered slippers and there she stood in the middle of the apartment, like a grand statue of classic beauty oppressed with a dumb deep consternation whivh she could not shake off, “No, no,—it cannbdt ba! ” sho © awitorls whid to herself, with the desperate effort of a naturally —<-5 -8' mi" aa dved smile aut t the fears which h: ave crepé upon me— “ Phis weaktiesa on. of terror met her eycs. to develop ia s WE tel. nee = om neat: | == oe artcn wetnqnaptneEE and they will revisit mu no in ie.’ Those reflections, - to which sho could not have possibly een led in the browt day- lig st, were patural enough at tae hour of niglit, wneo in- fluences unknown in the sunshine exurcise their mystic and jodomitablo sway. Lady Saxondale hastened to throw on eome. additional clothiny; 4 wood taking the lamp in her hand, she issued from the room. * She paused just outside the throshuld to assure herself that the howehold had retired to rest and that all was atill. within the casflo—and hoaring No sound, ale passed onward throug the passazes and corridors leading to tho: western side of tio edifice. In a few minutes sho reached that corridor ‘whence, the chapol opened; and hore she stopped short suddenly, saying to herself, “The teelins that has brought me hither argues @ groater woukgiesn than the vague terror which first gave rise to it.” She was about to rottace her way: but no—sho could not. An irresistible impulse urged her on; ‘and in a‘sdrt. of deaperatiog, she said, ** Yes, [ will procead; if ét:be only to convince myself that I bare the courage todo aa!” « Sae accordingly opened the chapel- door; and a a eT SE Ri ET =P STE A a though it was tho. middle of sum: r, the place | atrack ebill.to her flash, lightly clad ai she was. She advanced a few paces, and then paused to listen and to ‘luok around. All waa still--and no-object Through the open areaed utranve her lvoks: plunged into the cloister: bat the light of the lamp*did not penetrate far enouch shapely outline the objacts it con- taiifed: they looker like thangs darker than the dirkness which enveloped them. She wlanced to- warda tho vestiary, and a shudder passed throu ch her ,frame=while her counteonnce, alrvady pale, But it was nut that she saw anv- grew paler still. The dour was thiny to alarm. her: for she did not. shut—and all was silence, aud stillness, and im- strong mind endeavoyring to east away tho incubus | moveability around. of a terror to the cause of which her proper intelli- Sho made a step forward to anproach that ves- gence could not assent: .“* the spirits of the departed | tiary; bit with auotbor cold shuddor—a dread do not walk upon earth | And yet if it. wore so,! abhorroncy fur that» spot—she turned aside vel the shade of him mny indood be suppoacd to revisit | passed into the cloister. Now she was ainidst tis that place —— : tombs, arid in the: presence of that colossal ‘firure But bere her thoughts abruptly stopped short, | of blick marble represonting a warrior in complete for she dared not pursue their tenure: avd then, by | armour with tho vizor closud,—the stone ellizy ct ‘une of those inscrutable impulges which sumetimes.| the founder of the proud raco of Saxonidale! {Lor make their influence felt upon the denizens of this ; ‘ Tadyship- was: not worn to tremble bofore tii: world, she experienced a shuddering desire to visit! cold inanimate form; and she remained pazisz tho spoteto which she had: just alluded and aatisty | upon it, as it stuod there in its lite-dike atijtuls herself that there was no gaitée for alarm. . Indeed, ' with the left hand upon the hip aad the rig it azn she began to feel that until she had done this:she ; extended bowards the door. Sueoven felt tho proud could not hope to shako off the vague terrors which ‘satisfaction of proving her own courage by liny :rinz had scized upon her—maceh ‘less: to pass hér-nighty | thus: ih Bhat place of tombs and in tho presence uf in tranquillity bengath that-roof. And ‘now. all the. |! that imérdie fadn. At length she turnel away ; and furtitude ‘of this naturally strong-miaded: worsan | now with @ firmer step, a stronger gompression of came back to. hor aid; and she resolved upon obey. | i the Hips, aod-a more daring spirit of research, sho ing the secret impulsé whieh was:every moment appronclied. the vestiaty, Without hesitation—. becoming paramount above the altefvatives: of:-vbe-.' without even allowing herself to pause, leat hor dience or disobedience. It wiis: wing irvesie- . fortitude siould fail her—she at once opened the tible! { Gowes:’ As $h8 ttvgo portal moved slowly upon its “If hie spirif tay. appear te any one, i will be: binges, Aié light of the lamp which she carrie: certain to. appear tu me,” she said.td hereeit. If. in hor hand torew its beams into the place; and so, better meet the apparition at once, thandive in. then, with a still unflinching boliness, she crossed constant terror of behulding it draw aside Zhe bed the threshold. curtains or emerge from the obscurity of sume: But, Ah! how was it that the lamp fell not from sorner in this ruomi. But if not, then shall Lin- her hand?—fux at the instant ber blood all seemud SESS GF Brera, awe = =8 wee = = ee eum eer ee a «8. == ww a J | ne OOO) COMMUC SS (CO)