The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 307: what you’re looking at

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296 and this germinating love at first sight—for such indeed it was—produced vague alarms, soft mis- givings, and tender apprehensions never known before ! ‘Here we must part, Sir Richard,” she said, after they had walked on for a little while in profound silence. ' “ Part !—what—so soon ?” he exclaimed : and had death been the penalty for giving utterance to those words, he would have uttered them all the sanie—so unwitting, so improvised, eo invyolun- tary was the ejaculation. ‘‘Yes—I must return to his Majesty,” said the Princess, now suddenly recollecting the in- cidents that had sent her forth from the Castle to cool her burning brow in the park—those in- cidents which had gradually glided out of her memory in proportion as her interview with the Baronet became more intensely intoresting. ‘“ Farewell, then, generous-hearted Princess !” cried Sir Richard Stamford. ‘No words can convey all the illimitable gratitude which I ex- perience towards you. But let me give your Royal Highness this assurance—that henceforth, when I wish to shape in my imagination the angels that are in heaven, I shall think of you.” Thus speaking, he raised her hand to his lips —kissed it fervently—and then hurried away. The Princess Amelia watched his retreating form for nearly a minnte, at the expiration of which she turned, with a profound sigh, towards the nearest avenue leading to the Castle. CHAPTER LXXXIV. CAMILLA, IMMEDIATELY after their interview with the King, Tim Meagles and Lady Lade went back to the hotel—paid the bill—ordered the horses—and returned at a smart pace to London. It was about three o'clock in the afternoon when they reached the metropolis. The Amazon then hastened to her own home, to satisfy her doting and purblind husband with some excuse to account for her absence; while her paramour repaired to Carlton House. Meagles found the Prince of Wales alone in his own chamber, not the slightest step towards a re- conciliation between himself and Mrs. Fitzherbert having been made by either party: nor indeed, after the understanding to which the heir-apparent had come with his friend and counsellor, did he for an instant desire that the quarrel should be patched up. On the contrary, hethought that it would lead all the more easily to that complete rupture which his intensely selfish nature had contemplated and which Meagles had promised to carry into effect. In order, therefore, to avoid the possibility of meeting Mrs. Fitzherbert, the Prince of Wales had shut himself up in his own room ever singe the quarrel on the night of the ball; and during this interval he had divided the time between soli- tary drinking and feasting his imagination with the charms of Mrs. Brace's beautiful scamstress, Camilla Morton. The Prince was overjoyed when Meagles, on appearing before him, at once put him out of sus- pense by declaring that the peerage would be granted to Mr. Clarendon. Sn ne ee ee THE MYSTERIES. “And how the devil did you manage it, my dear Tim?” demanded his Royal Highness, chuckling heartily. “J thought it was an agreement between us that you should ask me no questions relative to the means which I might employ,” said Meagies, flinging himself upon a seat and slashing his boot with his riding-whip. ‘* Ah! truly—and so it was," exclaimed the heir-apparent. ‘“ Then you saw the King ?” “ Yea—we had a long chat with the old gen- tleman,” observed Meagles, speaking of his Ma- jesty in a free and easy, off-hand kind of a fashion. “ We!” ejaculated the Prince. “And who tho devil went with you, then ?” “The Amazon—only the Amazon,” answered Tim, quite coolly. ‘Nonsense! you are humbugging me !” cried the heir-apparent. ‘‘T assure you that it is truth,” said Meagles, with a smile. “ Lady Lade not only went with me—but likewise appeared before the King in her usual garb.” “ And what in the name of everything sub- lime or ridiculous did our revered parent say 7” demanded the Prince. “Only that my wife—as his Majesty took her to be—was a monstruus fine woman,” returned Meagles. “ But let me tell you that without the Amazon I might not have succeeded at all. She menaced at one moment—coaxed at another— then reasoned—then pleaded—and in fine helped me considerably,” he added, thus exaggerating the real truth in order to prevent the Prince from suspecting that he was in reality possessed of the Lightfoot certificate and had used it at Windsor. Capital !—capital!” ejaculated the heir-ep- parent, highly delighted at the idea of Lady Lade appearing with her huntress's garb in the presence of the ceremonious old King. ‘And when is this peerage to be granted ?” ‘‘In a week or ten days: and in the mean- time you are to hold your tongue aboutit. His Majesty is going to manage it very cleverly: he means to wheedle Pitt out of it by dint of sheer ar- tifice ;—and therefore if a hint, or even the ghost of a rumour should get abroad in the interval-—-——” “Not a sentence shall fall from my lips, Tim, until the proper time,” exclaimed the Prince. “ If I hear or see anything of the Miss Clarendons, [ will manage to appease them for the present some- howor another. Andnow that you have contrived to settle one thing for me—for I consider it to be a B00 as done—when shall we set about the ) “ ‘To-morrow, my dear Prince,” replied Meagies. “ About two o’clock in the afternoon I shall make my appearance in a genteel suit of black and solicit an immediate interview with Mrs. Fitzherbert. I cannot of coursesay how long ourpariey may last : but this I promise your Royal Highness—that she wil not sleep beneath your roof to-morrow night.” “ Bravo, Tim !" ejaculated the Prince. “ You are really an excellent fellow. By the by, I have not found the papers, you know——" “T dare say they will turn up some day orgn- other,” interrupted Meagles, rising from his seat. ‘‘ Farewell for the present. To-morrow afternoon I shall pay my respects to your Royel Highnese again—-the moment I have made all necessary arrangements with Mrs. Fitzherbert. a a a a a A a eS GORMGOOOKS CO