The Mysteries of the Court of London, Vol. 7 — page 136: what you’re looking at

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

é t ' peace A A THE MYSTERIES OF THE COUBT. ee nn ee leok of bold hardihood when contemplating females, —hus indicating the thorough libertine. Though of profligate habite—e confirmed gamester—a thrift—and an unprincipled seducer, yet he had done nothing to cause his expulsion from fashiouable society. A man may cheat a thousand creditors if they be only tradesmen, without losing his caste: but if he fail to pay a single debt con- stracted on the race-course or at the gaming-table, hee at once forfeits his rank and consideration as gentleman. He .may beguile credulous women by myriads of gishonourable artifices: and yet he ean still hold his head high and proclaim himself an honourable man. But if he forfeit hie word in the slightest degree to any individual in his own spherg, his honour is instantaneously con- sidered as lost. Such are tho usages, rules, and customs of the fashionable world; and therefore a man like Mr. Stanhope, though saturated with all vices, may continue to look everybody in the face, and no one will dream of excluding him from the aphere in which he moves. Such was the individual who was leagued with the Duke of Marchmont to accomplish the de- atruction of the Duchess. During the week which had elapsed since the infamous compact was made, he had already been admitted to a footing of inti- macy: in the Duke’s mansion; and the Duchess had received him with a becoming courtesy. She herself was ignorant of his profligate habits: she . might perhaps have heard it whispered “ that he was a little gay’—but though herself a thoroughly well principled and right-mindcd woman, she nevertheless knew that if she were to look coldly upon all the male portion of her visitors who bore a similar reputation to that of Mr. Stanhope, she _ would have to dobar herself froma society altogether. . Besides, she was docile to the will of her husband: it was not in her nature to rebel against him: she was already unbappy enough on account of his neglect to be careful not to aggravate it into down- ' right hatred—for she knew not the full extent of | ! | | that feeling of bitterness which ho entertained to- wards her. His friends became her friends: it was sufficient for Lavinia that her husband wished her to receive any particular individuals with cor- diality, to ensure that hospitable welcome on her part ;—and thus was she giving ber hand to the villain who was secretly pledged to the accomplish- ment of her destruction. In order that the reader may properly under- stand the scene which we are about to relate, it is necessary to give some little description of that cabinet which joined the library. It has already been described as a sort of slip, containing only one window, and commodious enough for a perevn to lounge in by himself, or for a couple of friends to indulge in a Confidential chat or discuss a bottle of ewine. It seemed to have been intended by the architest who built the mansion, to serve as a little retiring-room from the library itself: for in addi- tion to the door opening from the passage, there was another door of communication between the cabinet and the library. But on taking possession of that mansion, the Duke of Marchmont had com- pletely cut off the cabinet from the library, by having the door fastened up and book-shelves ar- ranged against it in the library iteelf. The fact was, his Grace had purchased moro books than the crigiaal conveniences of the library could well son- > =—— 7, bad evtatemee = RPE he Ty Eins mts cee VI hy ijt sen aa 125 tain. Not that he himself had purposed at the time to plunge headlong into all those intellectual treasures: his reading was limited enomgh--éhu newspapers and new novels, with perhaps ‘a few political pamphlets and Parliamentary Blue Boks, constituting the range thereof. Those quawhiies of vulumea therefore, so elegantly bound, were bought for ornament and show,-—-just as were the - vasea which etood upon the landings, the specimens | of sculpture on the ataircases and in the passages, or the pictures which hung to the walls. He had purchased, then—as we have said—more books than could be conveniently stowed away in the cases originally provided for them ; and not choos- ing to have them thrust into a cupboard or put anywhere out of sight, he had caused shelves to be arranged against the door opening into the cabinet. _ Now, Christian bad one day discovered, while sitting in the cabinet, that a conversation going on in the library could be overheard with very little diffloulty by any one in the former place; that: ie to oy, if auch person chose to play the part of a regular eavesdropper and apply his ear to the door which was fastened up. Be it well understood that Christian would under ordinary circumstances have scorned to become a willing and wilful eaveadropper: but be had been coun- selled by Mr. Reduliffe tu keep the strictest watch on the ings and conduct of the Duke of Marchmont—and this advice, under those ciroum- stances which are known to the reader, he was re- solved to follow out. One forencon—at the expiration of that week to which we have alluded—Christian was seated with the Duke of Marchmont in the library, when a domestic entered to announce that Mr. Army- tage solicited an immediate interview with his Grace. Christian perceived a strong ¢xpression of vexation and annoyance pass over. the Duke's countenance—an expression indeéd which was s0 extraordinary that though it immediately passed away, it dwelt in the youth’s mind. He of course knew that Mr. Armytage was Lady Octavian Me- redith’s father: he knew likewise that the Duke of Marchmont visited the Merediths; and he was therefore ustonished that the announcement of the name of Zve’s sire should produce such an effect on his ducal employer. More than all this too, he had learnt from his sister, in the course of con- versation, that Mr. Armytage was many yoares ‘back a dependant of the Duke’s in the form.of jand-steward, bailiff, or something of the kind~ and that thence was the origin of his fortune. How was it, therefore, that his Grace should un- wittingly evince such an antipathy to the more mention of Mr. Armytage’s name? “You can retire,” said the Duke to Christian when the servant had withdrawn to introduce Mr. Armytage. “ There is no more correspondence re- quiring my attention to-day; and your time is therefore now your own.” Christian bowed and issued from the librarys but he was irresistibly led to enter the cabinet, where upon the table lay two or three books which he had selected for perusal and which he had left there. It San be easily understood how, in the circumstances in which young Ashton was placed, everything that seemed at all mysterious or wnae- countable in respect to the Duke of Marchmont ~~ ee ee ee eee eee ee are oe OP ee eee SS Peete Oe eo is ye ee v = Oe ee ee ee To wAuie ECONNIC I OOO© SS CO