The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 288: what you’re looking at

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

nn Y . THB MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. 276 marriage with my cousin!” he exclaimed, clutching with avidity at the thought. “Isabella is no more your cousin, Adolphus,” responded the old nobleman, “than I am your father and I am nots’ he added emphati- cally. Adolphus raised bis hands to his throbbing brows as if to ateady his wildly agitated thoughts: his brain seemed to whirl in confusion. Could it possibly be true? Was he an unwilling im- postor? had he lived thus long an animated lie without knowing it? hed he for twenty-four years paseed in the world as s breathing falsehood, though utterly guiltless of wanton deceit? Oh, if it were eo, he felt as if he could not survive it— *twere a blow too terrible to bear ! The old Karl had yo such depth of feeling ; and though he was to a certain degree excited and dis- tressed, yet it was only to a degree, and not nearly to the same extent as the unhappy—the miserable -—the soul-crushed Adolphus, Yet allin a moment there sprang up in the young man’s heart a sense of consolation—yes, conaclation in the midet of such overwhelming revelations ae these. If he were not the Karl’s son, his crime in reepect to her whom he had hitherto looked upon as his mother- in-law became in a moment many, many shades lighter to contemplate, dark though ite hue still “Tell me how all this happened !—explain it!” he said, with quick and excited utterance: “ for heaven’s sake keep me not another moment in suspense !” “ Listen then,” agid the Karl, speaking with less silliness and flippancy than was his wont. “It was at Bloomfield that I wae residing with my first wife when a son and heir was born twenty- four years and a half ago, <A few days after that birth, important business hurried me away to the Continent; and the serious ombarrassments in which a near relation, who is long since dead, had involved himself at Vienna, detained me there for a period of four months. When | returned to England my wife was in a northern county, on a visit to some relations there: and indeed, as létters had previously informed me, I was assured that it was for the sake of her health that she had re- moved thither. I rejoined her: the child whom she represented to me as my son, was healthy and thriving. Years passed on—and you know with what kindness you were treated by her who passed as your mother, and indeed from whose bosom you were nourished in your infancy. You are aware likewise that she was of the Catholio per- suasion and that she was attended by a priest in her last hours, when a mortal illness overtook her beneath this roof. To that priest she confessed everything: but he dared not give her absolution woless she revealed to me the fraud which had been perpetrated.” “Go on,” groaned Adolphus in a half-etifling voice. “The revelation was made accordingly,” con- tinued the Earl: “but I swore to the Countess— your mother of adoption—that I would continue to treat you as my son and never expose the fraud to the world. She died with s conscience much relieved she died blessing me,” added the old nobleman, now displaying deeper Preven than Adolphus had ever before seen him exhibit. “ And why that fraud?’ asked the young man, still profoundly agitated. “I have already told you that I was abruptly called away from England when my child was three days old. A month afterwards that child ched. There were circumstances attending its birth—circumstances so painfal to its mother, as to preclude the idea that she could ever again hope to become a parent. She dreaded lest the severance of the tie which that child’s existence constituted betwixt herself and me should alienate ‘my heart from her, and make me look upon her even with aversion as a wife who could give no heir to the haughty name of Lascelles. She knew moreover that if anything happened to me, the estates would devolve upon my sister—Isabella’s mother,—and that she herself (my wife, I mean) would have to retire upon a small jointure, almost excluded es 1b were from that family of which it was her pride to be one of the heads. All these reasons induced her to practise the cheat which I have described. Opportunities were favourable: ‘I was absent, with a certainty of remaining away for yet some months—she had a surgeon and a naree accessible to bribery—female dependants who were devoted to her—and I had left her with the illimitable command of funds. You understand the reet—I need say no more.” “ Yes, there is something more for you to tell mes” answered Adolphus: then, after a pause, he said—and the words appeared to half choke him, ——“ Whose son am I ?” “A poor family’s who resided in some midland county which my wife traversed on her way to her friends in the north. This family, being heavily bribed, departed at once for America,—such imme- diate removal toa foreign clime being the para- mount condition of the compact. They have never since been heard of: but still, as I just now said, there is always the possibility, if not the proba- bility of some of them turning up-——” “And the name of this family P” said Adolphus, quickly. “Ido not know it,” replied the Earl: “and I give the most satisfactory reason in the world —which is, that I never knew it. Even if the late Countess intended to mention it, she did not —which is just the same thing as if she had never meant to tell me at a The old noblemen, having spoken in a serious and deliberate manner for some time, was now relapsing into his wonted frivolity,—which only served to aggravate the bitterness of feelings ex- perienced by the wretched Adolphus. The latter began to pace the library in an agitated manner; and vainly did he essay to collect his thoughts sufficiently for calm deliberation. It was a fearful blow which had struck him; and though the truth had been revealed slowly by his putative father, the effect was nevertheless as if it had smitten him with a most cruel abruptness. As we have already said, the only glimmer of light which pene- trated into the darkness of his mind, arose from the fact that his amour with Ethel had ceased to wear an incestuous aspect. But on the other hand, in what a position stood heP At any mo- ment an accident might unmask him: some un- foreseen circumstance might suddenly transpire to prove to the whole world that instead of being the rightful heir to the Earldom and estates of Las- oti EEE ga Eee. 1 Gyan a O aia EE ai ap 3 a ‘wea eieers eye Ge ee the ee SE EE © CP Ty TE KW & nw SP alae” (GO) an (C DOO Col