The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 86: what you’re looking at

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

ee we he —~_ = 2. a @ ~ ay wie about halfa mile distant. So few were thé per- sons why ever pussed alung that bye-rvad --unless it were labourers to and from their work—that Shrubbery Villa, as the place was called, was in a comparatively perfect seclusion on that particular outskirt of the multitudinous metropolis. Thus the occupants were sufficicntly far removed frum the observation of any curious or gessiping neigh- bours; and fcr any one courting such scclusion, it was the very place to enjoy it. We have spoken of it as it might be secn in the daytime: but it is in the evening, when the veil «@f darkness was upon the earth, that we aro about @o intruduce our readers to a portion of its in- @erior. An apartment on the first door, at the back of Che drawing-room, and therefore looking on the @erden in the rear, was fitted up in the most ex- Quisite style. This style was altogether oriental : = a H : fi of ottomaus against the walls, interruptel oniv by the doorway iu one direction and by the casement in another. The Venetian blinds were closed vut- side that casement: and within, heavy tolls of the richest crimson drapery kept out the slightest cur- rent of air. A lamp, suspended to the cciling, shed a soft roseate light through the transparent medium of a pink-tinted globe of glass. The atmosphere was warm and perfumed—but neither heated nor sickly. It was just such a warmth as was grateful on an October evening—and such a perfume as was refreshing, for it exhaled from flowers artistically arranged in costly vases. Sume of those flowers were of that rare exotic kind which are seldom scen in this country, and then only ir the conservatories of wealthy mansions, The mantel-piece was covered with superb orna- ments, all of an oriental kind: the central table displayed the most curious as well as the most for instead of chairs, there was a continuous range 1 costly luxuries of eastern art. No. 10.—FounrH SERIES. (CO a ee THE MYSTERIFS OF THE CoURT. an (G DOO (CO