The Mysteries of the Court of London, Vol. 7 — page 48: what you’re looking at

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THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT, ty CHAPTER VIII. THE AVENGING HUSBAND. Lozp Cuamspon reached the house; and in the looke of the domestics whom he found in the hall, he beheld consternation and wonderment depicted. At the same instant the Duke of Marchmont came hastenimy down the staircase, crying in a loud voice, “ Let*Mrs. Bailey's carriage be got ready this moment! Hasten away, some of you, to give the orders!—let there be not a single instant lost unnecessarily !” Three or four footmen scampered off to the stable# te issue their master’s commands; and the Duke, now perceiving Lord Clandon, walked straight up to him with sternly fierce looks, and eaid in tones of deep, concentrated rage, “ Hugh, my happiness is wrecked through your accursed counsel !” “ For heaven's sake, my dear uncle,” exclaimed Lord Clandon, “do not reproach me! Be just— be generous—as you have ever yet proved your- self.” “QO Hugh, I am half mad!” murmupsed the Duke. “ Forgive me—I wronged you! But come hither.” Thus speaking, he hurried his nephew into the nearest parlour; and when they were alone there togother, be began pacing to and fro in the moat violent agitation. “ My dear uncle, it kills me to behold you thus !” said Clandon, approaching his relative with an air of earnest sympathizing entreaty. “Tell me what I can do i“ “ Nothing, nothing: my happiness is gone for ever! And yet,” said the Duke, suddenly assum. ing a calmer aspect and a more dignified manner, “TI ought not to torture myself thus for a vile woman and an infamous young man. Hugh, are you aware, he added, speaking as if through his act teeth, “that she whom [ lately called my wife and loved as such, is unworthy of that name and of that love ?” “ Alas! my dear uncle,” responded Lord Clan- he “ Not a syllable, Hugh!” interrupted the Duke don, “I met my unfortunate brother; and | 9 eyoy are ' at “And what else did he aay? qeked HT eagerly : ad } a ot - “ Nothing,” responded Mrs. Baildy 1 “Wor would he allow me to put in s single word, | t: we, my lord, you have not told his Grace all thet’). hac fo you the other day ?” ha “ Not‘for worlds, Mra. Bailey!—not foe wields, my dear madam!” rejoined Clandon hiistily. “And for heaven’s sake, if the Duke questions you in any shape or form before you takes departure,—beware how you breathe a sy of those circumstances which you mentioned te me yo “J shall take very good care not to do that,” answered the lady, still trembling with nerroos agitation. who hadn’t my smelling-bottle at the moment I heard of it !” “ Hush!—footsteps are ascending |” said Lord Clandon. % t ‘] “Oh, what a shocking thing!—andI . To a few moments the Duke of Marchmont 3 made his appearance,—bis demeanour now sternly and haughtily composed, but with an evidently forced rigidity of the features; and his coun- tenance was ghastly pale. “My dear madam,” he said, approaching Mrs. Bailey and taking her hand, “1 am grieved that it should become your duty, as my wife's only re- maining relative upon her own aside, to bear ber away from a house which ceases to be her home, I thank you for the readiness with which you have complied with my request. Take the guilty woman with you: in a few days my solicitors shall communicate to you what my intentions are. Farewell, madam. Hugh, attend upon Mrs. Bailey to ber carriage and see that she accom- panies her!” With these words, the Duke was moving ab- ruptly away,—when, as a thought struck him, he turned and saif, “If she gocs down upon her knees, Hugh, to entreat and implore that you will bring a conciliatory message to me, I com- mand you, on pain of my unforgiving displeasure —on pain of my eternal wrath—to refuse com- pliance !” He then passed into the nearest room, locking the door Wehind him; so that the quick turnin of the key reached tho ears of Mrs. Bailey Lord Clandon, who remained upon the landing. In sternly, “not a syllable! I know your generous® @ few minutes one of Eliza's maids descended from eart—I know how you love your brother: but if you dare plead for him, I quit the room this in- , I. stant—or you shall quit the house for ever! know that they will tell me they ars innocent. Guilt always proclaims its innocence; and the more danining it is, the bolder is ite effruntery. Hugh, got another word!”—and thus speaking, the Duke of Marchmont walked forth from the room, Lord Clandon remained there for a few minutes after his uncle had left him; and then he hastily ascended towards the drawing-room. But on the landing he met Mrs. Bailey, who was descending from her own chamber, ready dressed as if for « journey. “Oh, dear nie, my lord,” she said, quivering with @ nervous trepidation: “what a dreadful thing! The Duke has ordered me to take Eliza @way as s00n as my travelling-carriage can be got in coadincss——” abuve; and presenting a letter to Mrs: Bailey, said, “ Her Grace entreats, ma’am, that you will hand thie to the Duke.” “ Indeed, poor soul,” cried Mrs, Bailey, “I can do nothing of the sort: for the Duke will neither hear nor see anybody on her Grace's behalf. Un- ! Jess indeed your lordship,” she added, addressing Clandon, “ would make one last effort-——” “Yes, yee—I will !” ed Hugh. “Ye= I will! It is a sacred duty—and even though I risk my uncle’s displeasure, I will perform it.” He took the letter, and hastened to knock at the door of the apartment in which the Duke had shut himself, His Grace demanded from. within who it was; and when Lord Clandon answered, the deor was at once opened. The uncle and nephew remained closeted there together for about ten minutes, while Mrs. Bailey and the tady’s-maid waited on the landing. * How is her Grace now?” inquired the former: COMIC OOO© (C Saal SS CO