The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 19: what you’re looking at

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4 chat Chere was acon born. This child—according to fhe same vague authority—was secretly removed to ‘the heuee of the late Sir William and Lady Stamford and adopted _| @appening to die at the period. All this I heard at Aylesbury—but of course I don’t pretend in any way te veack for it.” “I should think not, indeed!” exclaimed a gentie- man who, extering the apartment at the instant, but <ampercerved by the commercial travellers, had caught the latter portion of Mr. Page's observations. The beg-men started as those words, uttered in a tene of mingled imperiousness and contempt, fell e@pon their cars; and turning round they beheld the aew-comer from whoee lips the disdainful remark tad fallen. He was an individual of remarkably imposing sp-' mg :-—and in his gait gnd gestures there was an casy deganee combined with a nobility of air which be- poke the polished gentleman. The intellectuality of his face would have however been somewhat marred by its roundness, the gracefulness of the oval being destroyed by the fatness of the cheeks,—had rot the high and open forehead redeemed the fault. His atc was of that uncertain colour which appears of a | best dark chesnut in some lights, and auburn in others; and it was naturally curled and wavy. His age evened to be a few years over thirty; and his attire was nest, good, but an Sach was the individual who made the above-maen- Gened remark as he entered the commercial-room at che George and Blue Boar; and taking off his hat, aloak, and warm gloves, he seated himself at a table. Ailmest immediately afterwards the waiter made fis appearance with a steaming tumbler of rum- punch, which the gentleman had ordered as he passed the bar. But from the first instant that the stranger had met theeyes of Mr. Page, this worthy individual had act ceased to etare at him. It was not however with the offensive gaze of impertinent curiosity ; nor was the rude survey of coarse vulgarity :—but it was the fixed contemplation of one who is suddenly struck ey a resemblance, and who fancies he knows the ob- qect of his scrutiny, yet on the other hand feels almost certain that he must be mistaken. Ac this juncture the other two commercial traved- Jere, rose and retired; and Mr. Page was left alone with the stranger. CHAPTER II. TUS PLIGHT AND THE PURSUIT. Ws should observe that hitherto the gentleman whom we are still compelled to denominate “the stranger,” had not noticed the searching earnest- ness of gaze with which the bag-man regarded him : indeed, no sooner had he taken his seat at the table, when he appeared to fall into a profound by them, her ladyship’s own infant | feeling then he took a few sips of whiskey-and-water, and tried to make himeelf comfortable. But there was a more painful; and in a few minutes he found thas he was again staring at the gentleman more intentis than st first. “It is impossible that I san be mistaken,” thought the bewildered commercial traveller, in his chair; “and yet it is equally impossible that I can be right. He would never come into a public room in this manner—particularly so soon after the event Nevertheless, the likeness is striking! The same hair—the same high and open forehead—the same stature—the same well- form! Upon my soul it is very puzzling,—and very, very dn- agreeable.” Having reached this point in his reflections, he ; | rang the bell violently and ordered his glass to be replenished. The waiter was evidently astonished at the excitement manifested in the summons, and begged submissively to know “whether the last tumbler was to Mr. Page's liking?” The reply was given in the affirmative; and the functionary de- parted with his feelings considerably relieved by the assurance—for he had begun to fancy that some ming had occurred to annoy one of his master’ customers. On his return with the hot toddy, the waiter found Mr. Page gazing with painfal earnestness upon’ the strange gentleman, who, still unconscious of the attention which his presence thus excited, was now listlessly sipping his ruam-punch and looking up in a vacant manner at a picture of a sea-fight suspended between the windows. “John,” said the commercial traveller, in a low and scarcely audible tone, as he mysteriously beckoned the waiter close up to him ;—then, casting a furtive glance towards the stranger, he demanded laconically, “Who is that gentleman f” “I really don’t know, sir,” was the reply, also delivered in a whisper. “ But muster seemed to re- cognise him when he ordered his ram-puneh at the bar.’’ “Then go and ask your master who he is, John,” Mr. Page. The whiter glided out of the room with the quick and noicless step peculiar to his fraternity; and the comamercia) maveller said to himself, as he stirred his whishey-toddy, “ Now I shall have all my doubts cleared up—or my suspicions confirmed.” But Mr. Page was doomed to disap- poitment, aad to be plunged bacx into the bewil- derment from which he sought to emancipate him- self: for the waiter returned, with a solemn counte- nance; and while affecting to be busily engaged in poking the fire,—as the stranger was now looking in | thas direction,—he said in a low and mysterious whisper, “Please, sir, master told me to minod my own business and not ask impertinent qaes- tions.” “Then it mast be as I thought!” surmured Mr. Page; and he mechanically turned round to take another survey of the object of his attention, when he encountered the steady and almost haughty gaze ceverie,—eas if totally forgetting the observation he | of that gentleman’s full blue eyes. The commercial had made on entering—the words which hadelicited | traveller quailed beneath the look, in which there it—and the presence of any one else in the room. ! was something so confident, proud, and self-suffi- Mr, Page, feeling that his survey of the stranger : cient that al} the man’s doubts again sprang up in would be deemed an impertinence, if remarked, ' his mind, and with renewed force: for he thought COMIC OOOKS.EO C 4 ] e