The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 221: what you’re looking at

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

eR 2. ea «2 ane aE GP Gee ase aE » THE mYsTRnine. or two with the handle, in order to give due warn- ing of his approach, entered the room. The heir- apparent had therefore ample leisure to raise his head from the voluptuous pillow on which it had been reposing—while the Countess had also a moment's grace to arrange her hair which the Prince's caresses had somewhat disturbed. “May it please your Royal Highness,” said Ger- main, with a low bow, “ their Majesties await your presence at St. James's Palace.” “ A few minutes’ attention to my toflette, and I obey the summons, Germain,” exclaimed the Prince. The Oountess of Jerssy then took her depar- tare; and his Royal Highness hurried to his own Seer rare a spocdily made such changes fn apparel as he thought fit. It was about four oclock in the afternoon of this memorable day that the Prince of Wales entered his state-carriage and drove to St. James's Palace close by, to meet for the first time the fated and fore-doomed Caroline of Brunswick ! OHAPTER OLXXY. A STARTLING DISCOVERY. REeruRgn we now to that chamber in Whitechapel Workhouse where, at the close of a recent chapter, we left the parish-surgeon alone with bis patient, James Melmoth. The morning, which had broken amidst such unseasonable gloom, was now brightening up, as we have already described the gladdening change at the moment when the Amazon was looking forth from the sponging-house window in Chancery Lane: bat the sunbeams which now penetrated into the pauper infirmary in Whitechapel, only seemed to mock and not to cheer the wretched aspect of the place. Grim and wan in ite sicklinees was the expres- sion of Melmoth’s ceuntenance, as those beams played thereon through the windows which were curtained with naught save the dinginess of their own dirt ;—and yet the unhappy man smiled faintly —for the thought struck him at the moment how delightful it would beto roam in the open fields, and breathe the pure afr of heaven instead of the fetid atmosphere of those foul infirmary-rooms, and listen to the singing of birds instead of the , complaints of neglected paupers and the growling of surly purses. “ You feel better, my good man?” said the sur- geon, as he observed that sickly smile into which the invalid’s features had for a moment relaxed. “Yese—somewhat better, sir,” replied Melmoth. “TI am glad that I have found my children— although’ we met under circumstances so dread- fal—so very, very dreadful !” “ Whatdo youmean by dreadful circumstances?” asked the surgeon, seating himself on the edge of the bed and contemplating the invalid with a pro- found attention. “ I can understand that the meet- ing was painfal—bat to be dreadful——” “Oh ! do not question me, sir,—do not question me!” exclaimed Melmoth, a frenzied expression suddenly sweeping over his countenance. “ You will only wrest from me the most horrible of eecrets—for they are already trembling at the tip of my tongue. Had you treated me harshly, I should have felt no inclination to tell you anything : bat you have looked—you have spoken—you have acted kindly towards me, and I am inspired with an ardent longing to unbosom to your ears all the tremendous mysteries which are now entombed in my soul asa corpse in its selpulchre! But do not question me, I ssy—do not qnestion me,” cried the invalid, his whole form quivering with « dreadful spasm. “ Although my inclination prompts me in one sense to make a configant of you-—yet in an- other, do I shrink with indescribable horror from the bare idea! And to tell you the truth,” added the man, his voice now sinking to a low hollow whisper, which sounded like the wintry breeze through a leafless tree,—“ there are times when I fancy that I have foo mindse—two minds, separate and distinct—one urging me in tis direction, and the other in that.” d as Melmoth made the strange revelation in mysterious confidence, he gazed up into the surgeon’s countenance with a look wherein the wildness of insanity and the mournfulness of a aad condition of self-knowledge were ominously blended. | We have already stated that the medical man was devoted to his profession and that he wor- shipped the art with as much enthusiasm as the most ardent lover could possibly experience to- wards his mistress. Sucha peculiar case as that which he had evidently now before him, was not therefore likely to be neglected or overlooked by such an earnest inquirer into the depths and mys- teries of the medical world: indeed the surgeon had previously observed particular symptoms lead. ing him to suspect that this was one of those |; examples of psychological eccentricity into which it was highly important to examine. “My good friend,” he accordingly said, in a soothing tone and with encoursging manner, “I am incapable of abusing any amount of confidence which you may feel disposed to place in me A medical practitioner must observe good faith in that respect as implicitly as if he were a father- confessor. You tell me thet you experiance the effects of two separate inclinations, urging you in different directions-——” “ 'Yes—it is so,” ejaculated Melmoth, abruptly. ‘‘ At this very moment, I am the prey to a species of excruciating anxiety, prompting me to unbosom myself entirely to you—while on the other hand I feel that I would sooner perish the most wretched of deaths than betray the eppalling secrets which I cherish here—here /” And the invalid beat his breast violently as he uttered these last words. ‘Will you not look upon me asa friend ?” in- quired the surgeon softly. ‘Yes—yes—I must!” murmured James Mei- moth, with accents of feveriah impatience: then, suddenly clutching the arm of the medical man and gazing up with a kind of wild earnestness into his countenance, he said in a deep sepulchral tone, “Strange things occurred to me last night! But stoop down your head—lower—lower still! They must not overhear me in the next room. There! Keep your head bent like that, and I can whisper‘ our ear!” 4 The glanced with a momentary feeling of affright at the face of the invalid as he stooped ElOOO® (COLUM