The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 27: what you’re looking at

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14 Sir William and Lady Lomax and their three | lands—were introduced. But still there was one daughters—who were present, you know, at the. to arrive whose appearance Eliza deeply dreaded. happy ceremony which made you mine—are like- | This was Lord Clandon. When at Oxford, she wise coming to pass a week with us. Tell me, | had never seen Hugh: she was likewise aware dear Eliza—aro you pleased with these arrange- | that Bertram had never breathed to his brother a ments ?” syllable of their love; and it was not therefore The Duke studied his utmost to render himself | through fear that this would be betrayed to the and all his plans agreeable to his young bride; | Duke, that the Duchess dreaded to encounter and with her habitual amiability, ehe expressed her | Lord Clandon. But she thought to herself that if gratitude and her satisfaction. Lord Clandon bore a resemblance to the lost Ber- “And there is another guést too, whom we may | tram, her presence of mind would be put to the expect this evening tn time for the dinner-hour,” | sorest, severest test it had as yet experienced, and continued the Duke. ‘My nephew, Lord Clan- | she would have to pass through an ordeal fraught don, who has just returned from a long Conti- | with anguish and mental agony to which the tor- nental tour, has written to offer bis congratulations , tures of the rack were paradise in comparison. on my marriage, and to express his earnest desire | But the dinner-hour came—and Lord Clandon to pay his respects to my beautiful Duchess. The | made not his appearance. After waiting some THR MYSTERIES OF THH COURT. >—— letter is altogether nicely and prettily worded— with a manly generosity and frankness too, for which,” added the Duke almost involuntarily, and in a sort of musing strain, “ I should scarcely have given Hugh credit. However,” he went on hastily to observe, as if ashamed at having thus betrayed even the slightest fear as to the impression which his marriage might have made upon his nephew,— “I have answered him kindly, and invited him to visit us.” Again did the mention of that name of Clandon call up with painful vividness the memories of the past— those memorics which were in reality never absent from Eliza’s mind, but which unless thus stirred up, floated only with the sercneness of re- signation, as a sort of perpetual under-current of the thoughts. Yet though thus strongly agitated within, her countenance betrayed nothing of what she felt. In the course of the afternoon Mrs. Bailey’s travelling-charict dashed up to the grand entrance of Oaklands; and Eliza was clasped in the arms of her futher. her embrace for an evidence of complete satisfac- tin and huppiness on account of the alliance which she had furmed; and whatsvever apprehen- sions had previously filled his mind on that score, were dissipated In a@ moment. But when Eliza came to revard Captain Lacey attentively, she per- ceived that he was looking exccedingly illi—and that the smiles which her presence and bis own relicved thoughts conjured up, beamed upon a countenance that was thin, haggard, and care- worn. She comprehended all that he must have felt on her account—his deep anxicty lest his parting injunctions should have been disregarded, and that she might have betrayed the past when mado aware of the family into which sho had married. Pained by bis appearance, she lavished upon him the most tender caresses; and the old man’s happiness now appeared as complete as the pride of his ambition had alrcady been. As for Mrs. Bailey, it was a proud thing for her to be enabled to salute a Duchess as her relative; so that in the increased consequence and importance which if gave her, she found infinite reason for eclf-congratulation at having taken the Captain and his daughter by the hand in the moment of their need. A little later in the afternoon Sir William and Lady Lomrex, with their three daughters, arrived ; and as the dinner-hour drew near, several other gueste—dwellers in the neighbourhood of Oak- He mistovk the filial enthusiasm of ee eee ee eee 2 --eee [=a SSS — eee eee time, the Duke decided that the banquet should be served uv. It was so—the ladies in due course adjourned to the drawing-roem—where in another hour they were jomed by the gentlemen. It was now past nine o'clock; and Eliza was just con- gratulating herself that the dreaded meeting would be postponed until the following day,—when the sounds of an equipage dashing up to the front of the mansion, reached ber ears. Now she sum- moned all her fortitude to her aid—all her presence of mind. aristocratic-looking man, far advanced in years— was conversing with her at the time; and this perhaps was fortunate for her,—inasmuch as if Sir Wiliam Lomax — aa tall, thin, - younger and more penetrating eyes had been fixed . upon her countenance, the evidences of « strong inward trouble might have been read. The drawing-room door was thrown open; and a domestic announced in a loud voice, “ Lord Clandon.” . The Duke greeted his nephew warmly; and there was something in his cordial clasp of the hand which seemed to convey a heartfelt gratitude for the generous, frank, and magnanimous manner in which Hugh had expressed himsclf with regard to a marriage which he had in reality so little reason to like. For Lord Clandon, in defaulé of issue, was the heir to the estates and title of Marchmont ; and this alliance on the part of his uncle with a young wife only just twenty-one years of age, naturally gave every promise that Hugh’s hopes and expectations would be disap- pointed. “Welcome, my dear nephew, to Oaklands,” sail the Duke. ‘And now permit me at once te present you to one to whom you are anxious te become known.” Eliza had not dared fling even a single glance towards the door when it opened. She rose from her seat, and stood motionless,—a wild excitement in her mind, but with all the outward appearance of the unstudied grace of a serene and dignified self-possession. There was confusion in her brain —a veil before her eyes: Sir William Lomax was saying something to her—she knew not what it was. His voice and the voices of al! the others in the room, scemed like an unintelligible blending of humming, droning sounds. She heard persons approaching her: then her husband’s voice said, “ El:za, L have pleasure in introducing my nephew, Lord Clandon.” All in an instant she became vividly, fright- fully, terribly aware of the necessity of exerting (SOL (C DOO Col