The Mysteries of the Court of London, Vol. 7 — page 206: what you’re looking at

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

—_ — ee ee eg oe ee ee ee = ee eee = eratic rank, and availing herself of the — oe a -_ = ~~ . Rayner, aud that she was a widow. Presantly it THE MYSTERIAS OF THE COURT. sary preliminaries to a mire farnaliar and conting.- “40° FP lee seep: Se Te Re ere ee gee ee te = — rn 105 attentive and dveile to ber preceptregs, But no ous strain of conversation, Lettice found her hhupe that she was happy was ever hinted ab ia travelling-companion to be a young lady of unas- those leiters®: it appeared as if her euardian ott suming mannera, eomewhat simple-minded, and | sidered he. was fullilling the oxtent of bia d uty by disposed to enter with an ingenuous frankmess upon the objects of the journey on which she waa bent. | Aeting as @ acre ran of business, and that he war i by no means bound to demounstrato any of thase Lettice chose likewise to be communicative,—not | kindnegses which her lost parents would have however to reveal the real truth in reapect to the motives of her own journey, but to chatter away in her own style for the sake of appearing im- } portant in the egtimation ef har travelling companion. She aecordingly stated thet she sas ‘shown, oy which she might have looked fur on the | part of relations—-if sho had pasapssed any. ho echoolmistress was occasionally visited by « | nephew of her own-—s young gentleman of hand- | fomo person, agrecuble mauners, and pleasing on her way to Jreland to pags a few weoks with | address. He was four years older than Louina, some friends in the neighbonrhoud af Dublin,— | and consequently twenty-ono at the period when _ dropping a hint that theese friends were of aristo- opportunity to lead her fellow-traveller to infer that she belonged to a wealthy and influential family. The she attained her seventeenth year. He had just inherited the littleproperty bequeathed to him by his own parente; for he likewise was an orphan. To be briaf, 9 rautual affection spraug up on the reader knows how much of all this was true: it| part of tho school-girl and the nephew of the wns however believed by Lettice Bodnoy’s travelling- | echoolmiatyess: tender billets were oxchanged— companion, who was inspired by such confidences ; vows of eternal fidolity were pledged. ‘The cir- to beeumy all the’ mere communicatave on her own ‘ cumstance was discovercd~and the young gentle part. , | oan was ordered by his indignant aunt to absont * It now transpired that this lady was named | hinsclf{ altogether from the house so long as Louisa | ronsained beneath the roof. Tho schvolmisiress further appeared that her Christian name was: was a well-principlod and conscientions woman : ' Louisa,—an intimation which oclicited from Leitice | she eommunieated at oneco with Myr. Pollard at . Roducy's ips a remark on the singularity of the | Liverpool; afd this geutlanan wrote to signify - coincidence that their names should have the same | his intention of proceeding in the course of a day —_ mes —- © —— oe = -= initials. In short, as the journey progressed, the two ladies became more and more intimate and familiar; and*inaxmuch as no other passenger was lutroduced tu their compartment of the carriage at any of the stations where the train stopped, the flow of their conversation proceeded usiuter- ruptedly. or two to fetch his ward away from the achyol, The ruinance bad thus reached that point at wluch the varigua cotoplicativna could not possibly load to any otber result than thot which the reader doubtless antivipates. The nephew of the selioal- mistress found meaua to communicate secretly We inay now record those detaije| with Louisa: abe was almost broken-hearted at winch Letuce Rodney received from tho lips of | the thought of being eternally separated from ber Blrs. Rayaer, in respect to certain circumstances | lover, and of being borne back again to her guar- of ber )ite, as well as the special motives which hed led to the Journey she was now undertaking. It appenred {lat Louisa was left an orphan at the age of cleven,—Loth her parents beimg carried of! suddenly by sume epidemic disease, and with only a short interval between their deaths. Louisa was then removed to the house of a certain Mr. .\uthony Pollard, a lawyer at Liverpool, and _ who was left her guardian. He was no rejution: _ but doubtless Louisa’s father, when making his . will, had his own gvod reasons for appointing this | gentleman to act as trustee for whatsoover pro- a —— =m = — - oo oem we - eee C perty ho might leave his daughter. My. Pollard was an elderly man—a widower—of ecccniric habits~ loving money with a miserly devotion— and carrying his parsiroouy to almost every ex- treme which 1s usually assocated with the grood of gam and the passion of mammon-worship. Louisa remained but a fow weeks at bis hoyse, and was then “sent to a boarding-school at some tewn a considerable distance off. Llcre the was kept throughout the holidays ; and though Lindly trvaied by the mistress ot the estublisoiment, aad dian’s cheerless house at Liverpogl--of which house her recollections uf some ajix years back, wore by no weans agreeable. She therefore yielded to the entreatios of er admirer: sho fled withhim: but he was an honourable young nmap— aud the wopement was immediately crowned by marriage. The newly-wedded pair proceeded to France, whonce Li. isa—now Mrs. Haynor—wroto ta Mr, Pollard, explaining to him that sho hud consulted her Owm happivess in the step which she had taken, and that if she had thereby proved unduti- ful and disobedient to the will of her guardian, she policited bia forgiveness. She did not however ex, #drience much, if any compunction ot having thus flown, as it were, in Mr. Pullard’s faco; for his conduct towards her bad never been calculated by any kindness to win her esteem, The letter he wrote back, was pretty well that which might have been expected from the calloyeminded wan of business. Jt was to tho effet, that as abe had chosen to regulate her own destinies, and cater fur her own happiness according to the dictates of her adequately supplicd with pocket-ncuey,—yet stil ; inclinations, Lie coulil aeguit hinself of any vie- she could not help feeling uw bister and potynant | lation of the Crust sonfided to him by ber deecased it was to know of no place in the wide world / parents: Le sdurmed her that she was entitled to which she couldaluok forward to visit or be enabled) three thousand pounds on attanung the age of to speak of as her home. At this school she re- | tweuty-ouo -und that in the meaulune be would guned until she was seventeen,--never ouce sec-! recgiarly remil her the interest. Ue offered no img Aly. Poilard-- only occamupaliy heeting fron i feluitaons upon ber marriage —- but op the other hun, whey ia a curtly written letter be reudited , hand, veve no direct expression to any displeasure her money and expressed a hope that she was ) op hi: own part. Tue letter coutalued not the re- NOG a wwe Ree ae in ee actin een niente = ee ce a rr er er rrr err gr, eg an : En Te ae ll gE. oe SS