The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 365: what you’re looking at

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

a 854 THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. private apartment—a request which the discom- | Farthenless were exceedingly dejected, miserable, fitted Gold Stick obeyed with considerable alacrity; | and surly—a state of mind which was by no means for he felt by no means comfortable with so many | mitigated by listening to the complacent terms in eyes fixed wonderingly and scrutinizingly upon _ which the others eulogized the succulent repast of him. The Grand Duke of Maxe-Stolburg-Quotha | which they had so luxuriously partaken. likewise accompanied the Prince; and in a few| We have said that the Duke of Marchmont was minutes the three were alone together in another | a guest at the palace on this occasion : but he de- apartment. Then Count Frumpenhausen made a | parted long before the denouement of the adven- clean breast of it and revealed everything. It ture of the hungry Gefmans. Indeed, it was - appeared that a German valet who had attended | scarcely midnight when the Duke stole away from Prince Albert to this country when he came to | the midst of the brilliant assembly; and entering espouse the British Queen, was a near relative , his carriage, ordered the coachman to drive to the of the Chevalier Kadger; and when the Grand | beginning of the street in which Madame An- Duke’s retinue were deliberating at Mivart’s | gelique’s establishment was situated. His Grace Hotel how they should indemnify themselves for | was aware that on this particular evening their exclusion from the Palace, the Chevalier had ' Christina Ashton was to be carried off; and he resolved to seek the counsel and succour of his | was deeply anxious to know the result. It was relative the valet: for he had an idea floating in | however no part of the infamons Frenchwoman’s his ingenious mind that through such assistance: plan to take Christina to her own house: she himself and his fellow-retainers in the dacal ser- ' feared that it might be too dangerous—and hence vice might at least obtain a substantial supper | the epncealment of her features with a thick veil, within the palace-walls. He accordingly sped to | to avoid recognition on the part of the young his kinsman, who at first expressed his utter in- | damsel at any future time. She had accordingly ability to do anything for him: but he presently ; made an arrangement with the keeper of another recollected that a guest who had been seized with | den of infamy, but one which was on a far less a sudden indisposition, had departed privately, | splendid scale than her own, to receive Christins— leaving his domino behind him in an ante-room to|to keep her in close custody—and to have her which he had retired on first experiencing that | ruin effected, so that under the imperious pressure sickness. The valet procured the domino, and | of circumstances she might resign herself to « life gave it to the Chevalier Kadger,—strictly enjoin- | of pollution, and thereby be prevented from re- ing him to use it for himself alone, and by no | turning to those friends to whom she might tell means to transfer if to any of his comrades. But, the tale of her abduction. Such was the abom- the Chevalier was resolved to prove faithful in | inable conspiracy devised for the accomplishment every respect to his fellow-retainers; and on his | of Christina’s ruin: bit the reader has seen how return to Mivart’s, they all sped off on foot toge- | providentislly it wae frustrated by the collision of ther to Buckingham Palace. Being known as | the two vehicles. the Grand Duke’s retainers, they easily obtained; The Duke of Marchmont, alighting from his admission to an ante-chamber, while the Chevalier | carriage, and dismissing it, proceeded to Madame Kadger kept the domino compactly folded under | Angelique’s house. He found the Frenchwoman his coat. When the ante-chamber was gained, he} in her elegantly-furnisked apartment, planged put on the domino, and had no difficulty in gliding | into a dejection from whieh not even frequent into the saloons where the company were assem- | draughts of wine could serve to arouse her. The bled: but he had a keen nose for the refreshments, | Dake at once saw that something was wrovg : and and speedily making his way to the supper-room, | he was speedily made acquainted with all thet he banqueted to his heart’s content. The second | had occurred. He gave vent to bitter impreca- wearer of the domino was Count Wronki, the | tions against the mishap; end then on questioning Duke's Lord Steward : the third was the Chevalier | Madame Angeliquo more closely as to the personal Gumbinnen, the Duke’s Lord Chamberlain: the | appearance of the individual who had rescued fourth was General Himmelspinken, the Master | Christina, he recognised Lord Octavian Meradith. of the Horse: the fifth was Herr Humbogh, the} “Ah !” he exclaimed, “I have known for s long ducal Privy Seal; and the sixth, as the reader is | time that Meredith was deeply in love with this aware, was the Count Frumpenhausen, the Gold | girl—and perhaps she will now fall entirely into Stick. But this respectable individual had failed | his hands.” to obtain the supper on account of the most inop-| “And if not,’ responded Madame Angelique, portune presence of the Prince at the time in the |“ she will return to the Lady Indora—perhaps refreshment-room; while Baron Farthenless, who | she Aas already returned—and perhaps Indora was to have been the last wearer of the universal | conjectures that it is I who had the girl carried domino, was waiting in hungry expectation until | off. I feel my lord as if troubles were thickening his fellow-retainer Frumpenhausen should return | around me-——” to the ante-room to consign the disguising gar-| ‘And I also!” muttered the Dake with deep ment to the said Baron’s shoulders. concentrated bitterness: then he hastened to add Such was the revelation made to Prince Albert aloud, “But we must do something, my dear and the Grand Duke of Maxe-Stolburg-Quotha. | madam—we are not to be beaten and baffled in Both were exceedingly irate: but Frumpenhausen | this manner——~” prornised never to offend again ; and it was found| ‘But what on earth cas we do?’ asked more convenient to bestow pardon upon him than | Madame Angelique, with an air of completest de- by expulsion from his ducal master’s service, to | wilderment. send him adrift in the world to tell the tale of| “Yes—what can we do ?” said the Dake, the domino and the suppers. On their way back almost equally bewildered. “You know that the to Mivart’s, Count Frampenhausen and Baron! Lady Indora was already your enemy—you heave EORNICOOOKS.ACO