The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 23: what you’re looking at

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

10 THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. But there was one stipulation which she posi- | instant was approaching when Eliza, now Duchess tively laid down. It was now the close of April, | of Ma-chmont, was to bid adieu to her father and 1828 : upwards of a couple of months must elapse | her relative, and accompany her husband to which- until] the two years should be completed since her | soever of the country-seats it was where the honey- father’s written pledge to Bertram Vivian that | moon was to be passed—but which the young bride under certain circumstances the engagement with | knew not. She was even ignorant of the very him should be renewed ; and though the afflicted | names of them all. Retiring from the breakfast- Eliza entertained not the faintest hope that there | table, she sought the chamber where her maid was was the possibility of aught occurring, or of a | in readiness to assist her in making the requisite miracle being wrought, to give scope for those cir- | change in her apparel for the journey; and it cumstances,—it nevertheless seemed a supersti- | struck almost unnatural to Eliza’s ear tiously sacred duty that the full time should run when she was addressed as “your grace” and out. And it required also twocomplete months to! “my lady.” Her toilet being finished, she finish the year since the intelligence had reached | repaired to a parlour where she knew, according her of Bertram’s death; and though circumstances | to an intimation given by her maid, that her had prevented her from wearing sable garments as ! father wished to say a few words to her in private, a tribute to his memory, her heart at least re- land bestow without restraint the last embrace quired the completion of a year’s mourning——a : before she was separated from him. There she mourning, however, that she knew would be eter- | found the old man in a state of happiness strangely nal! Her stipulation therefore was that the bridal- | blended with a nervous excitement—but assuredly day—tho day of her immense self-sacrifice—should , not with grief at the prospect of parting. Not not be fixed at any date earlier than the month of ; but that he loved his daughter dearly, as the July. Jo this her father readily promised concur- | reader well knows: his pride however was too rence: the principal point was gained—and that | highly gratified—his relief from cares on account was sufficient. of her future welfare, was too complete—and The interval passed far too quickly for the | perhaps his satisfaction at the result of his plans afflicted Eliza: but outwardly she suffered no | was too full, to leave room for aught savouring of traces of her soul's utter despair to present them- | sorrow. Only that nervous excitement was blended, selves. She had made up her, mind to self. | asa sort of alloy, with his other feelings; and this immolation:. she resolved that her martyrdom | the unsophisticated Eliza took for the tinge of should excruciate only herself. She felt that she | grief which it was natural to suppose that he ex- had no right to suffer the Duke to perceive that | perienced, but which he really did not feel. she was a victim: neither did she wish to mar the| “My dearcst girl,” he said, clasping her in his happiness which her father was now experiencing | arms, “ your beauty and your worth have raised in the last days of his existence. In short, she ; you to the highest pinnacle. Once more—and for armed herself with a preterhuman courage; and: the last time—must I allude to something con- but for the paleness of her cheeks and the slight | nected with the past.” deepening of the air of pensive sadness upon her| Here the Duchess shuddered as if with a glacial countenance, no one could have told that another | chill shooting through her, although it was the dagger had been driven into her already too cruelly | sultry month of July. Her pale countenance wounded heart. became paler; and her hand was instinctively On the 10th of July, 1828, the marriage was | placed upon her heart—for there was Bertram solemnized, with some degree of privacy, and only | Vivian's ring concealed | in the midst of a select circle,—none of the Duke’s; “Only a few words,” said Captain Lacey quickly relatives being present. His Grace had his own | —for he saw this emotion and comprehended it. reasons for not inviting to the bridal those who | “ You now belong to another: you are the bride were most nearly allied to him ; inasmuch as his | of a nobleman whose honour is unimpeachable, as marriage was a fatal blow—or at least might prove ! his rank 1s lofty and his wealth immense. I need so, if blessed with issue—to all who would protit , scarcely tell you, Kliza, that he knows nothing of by his death if he remained single. And Captain | the past; and if you be wise—if you be prudent— Lacey had his own reasons likewise for encouraging | if indeed you wish to be kind and considerate the Duke in the idea of private nuptials: but what | towards him, you will cherish tha¢ as your own these reasons were, he explained not befureband to | secret-——or rather forget that it ever was!” his daughter. She herself asked no questions: she} ‘1 cannot, father,” said Eliza, in a low dcep knew not even the names of the Duke's relatives, | voice. “I cannot forget it! But, as you have nor who they were: she sought to know nothing | observed, it is my secret—and it shall remain so. more than ¢ircumstances brouyht to her knowledge Let me relieve you of all apprebension on that —and this knowledge was limited to the fact that: head. I am now the Duke’s wife: I compre- he on whom she bestowed her hand was the Duke | hend all that is becoming on my part in my new of Marchmont, end that she was now a Duchess. | position. I should feel honoured and flattered by his preference of me, did I possess a heart still — capable of being moved by such feelings: but at least I shall be careful not to wound nor shock my CHAPTER III. husband by suffering him to know that I have loved another—that I cannot love Aim—that the THE DUCHESS OF MARCHMOST. power of loving a second time is dead within me !” TE ceremony was over—the wedding bresekfast,! ‘‘ Dearest daughter,” exclaimed Captain Lacey, given by Mrs. Bailey, and which was of a most | “7 am delighted and distressed to hear you speak splendid description, likewise reached an end—the | thus !—delighted to find that you so admirably ap- (COLL (C DOO (GO)