The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 235: what you’re looking at

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222 THES MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. that there was not in all the werld such a cunning | as it were in anguish to think that he could not dog as he wae | adequately return the abounding fulness of the affection which she bestowed upon him. For all _ : these r*sadns he made the mightiest efforts to wtifie the feelings which he experienced towards Ubristina, and to forte himself to remain in deed - | faithful t6 his wife, even if he could not be so in THE PWO ACCIDENTS. | thought. | Tims, as we have said, sevetul weeks Buveorz semoviag frem Mrs. Chubb’s t a new | away; and Christina had not the slightest reason ing 96 Kensington, Christian proceeded to pay | te saspect that he cherished so profound a passion two vicite—one te his sister, and the other te Mr. | foe ber. It will be remembered thet on the first Redcliffe. He commenicated to Christina tie in- | day of her arrival he had rapturously taken her teliigence that he hed obtaived a sew eitustion; | hand, and had regarded her with a degree of fervid and the affestionate giel was delighted to find that | admiration which shé could not possibly help ob- her belovoil brvther #0 provared one employ- | serving, and which had made her withdraw that ment after ancther, Bat on-precesiing te Mrs. | hand somewhat abruptly, as the colour mounted Macaulay's in Mortimer Strect, Cheistian learnt | to het cheéks and as her eyes were cast down: that Mr. Redeliffe had been out of town for some | but she was led to reflect at the time that the days, and that it was altogether uncertain whan he | man whe had fescued het from insult, and had would eeme back. Christinn therefore left a note | risked his life as the uence, Could not poe- for him,--making hie kind fiend acquainted with | sibly mean himself to her. Therefore this the change in his position, and expressing a hope | pertieular incident which we have jast brought to heer from him on his retam t Londen. Ho! back to the reader's recollection, and which oc- then removed to Kensington, and entered upeén the | cutred on the first day of her arrival, had not duties of his new situation. | since dwelt safficiently in her mind to amount to Two or three weeks paseed; and % was now the | a suspicion as to the real state of Lord Octse beginning of April. Three months had elapsed | vian’s feelings towards her. Bat, at the expira- since Christina Auhten became the eompanten of | tien of a few weeks, a littl: incident occurred Lady Gutavian Motedith ; aid it heeomes neces- | which began 60 produce a change in Christina’s eary for us to describe what had teken place | mind and make her think tremblingly on several during this interval. The reader will remember | subjects. that Lord Octaviaa had persuaded Christina not to| it was one day—while her brother was still in mention to Zoe the cireumetapoe of their previous | the employment of the German prince —that acquaintance, wor jn any way te allude to the duel. | Christina, while descending with some degree of Ié will likewise be borwe in mind that {¢ was with | rapidity from her own chamber to the drawing- considerable reluctance the pure-minded Christina | recom, trod upon one of the brass rods of the stair- had assented to « eoures which she conceived to | carpet which had got louse; and as i rolled be fraught with a esetain dogyee of duplicity to- | beneath hee foot, she fell heavily backward. Her wards ler atninbie friend and benefactrets. Never- | head came with such sudden concnasion against theless, influgneed by Lord Octarian’s sophistical | the stairs that she was so stapified as to be unsbdle reasoning, the artless and iaexperieneéd Christina | te raise herself ap. Some one was at the moment was ied to belicve it was really for the sake of | abeending the lower fight: it was Lord Octavian insuring Secs happiness, and to avoid giving | —and on perceiving what had happened, he sprang a shork to her confidence in her husband, that { to our horoine’s ussistance. He raised her up in the esoret of the dusl was to be to religtondy | his erms,—exciaiming, “ Good Gud, are you hurt? OB, speak to me! for heaven’s mks, epeak to me! For tho first fow wevks after our young heroine | Seoner my own fife, teh thousand times over, than was instelied in her now homo, Lord Octavian's | your's!” conduct was of such a character as to give het not] These words startled Christina into fullest vitality the slightes uneasiness. He seve? sought te be | again. SBtushing, and full of confusion, she extri- alone ejth her: be never regarded bit in a way | cated heretif from Lord Octavian’s arms :—be- that might lead bev te sunpedt that he cherished a | wiidered by the effects of the blow and the passion for her: his demeanour was precisely @hat | impassiontd ejatulations which had jast burst it ought to be—thas of a friendly bat respectful from ia fips, she could not marmur forth a single courtesy. Nevertheless, the young nobleman con. | syllable of thanks for the succour he had rendered tinued te low Christina pacsiquately, dévotediy— | her: the staggered iato the drawing-room, and we might almost say ly: but he endeavoured | sank upon a sofa with a returning sense of faint- to exercise the strongest ecatral ever his feelings; | ness. Octavian, who had now recorered his own and if be could mot subilue them, he at least did { seff-possession, rang the bell violently, and ordered not betray them. {he reader bas scot that there | the maids to administer at once to Miss Ashton,— wete many good qualities about Tord Octatian | deseribing the accident that had occurred. He Meredith,-that he was naturally generous-hearted | then, with considerate delicacy, left the spert- —and that though he did not leve Zee in the teas | ment; and in a short time Christina was so far meaning of the term, he nevertheless cherished a | recovered, that she felt nothing beyond the pain GHAPTRE XtiLITt. epee eret, aS fa — ln ee Ewe of - -~ — . a — e —2# a ound gratitade towards the wife who hed | arising from a severe contusion. We should | ht him a forteme—aend therefore experienced | obverve that Lady Octavian Meredith was passing a fall sense of bis. duty towards thet wife. SBe- | an hour with her father Mr. Armytage at the time sides, he perceived that she was devotedly attached | that the accident occurred; and on her return, she te him; and it frequently made his heart ery cut | was much distressed to hear of it. COMMIC DOO (GO)