The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 240: what you’re looking at

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a, LA at THE MYSTERIES. 227 efifaent sensuousness of whose charms was over him despite the emasculating effects of the deep potations in which he had indulged. “You told me that you loved me, Frances?” he said, as he smoothed down her beauteous hair. “TY have told you so a thousand times, dear George,” was the answer. “Tell me, then, what Y am fo do,” continued the Prince. “Shall J repair to the bridal chamber —or shall I at once let her Royal Highness under- stand that she is my wife only in name ?” “Oh! you must not carry matters to such a dan- gerous extreme as this,” exclaimed the Countess. “Your treatment of her Royal Highness would get abroad—and the injury to your reputation would be irreparable. Come, my dear George,” con- tinued the artful woman,—“the time is passing rapidly—and it is now half-past two o'clock. Let me present you another glass of wine—and then to the nuptial chamber !* “Be it so—be it so ® muttered the Prince, with subdued irritability of manner: then, after having drained the tumbler once more, he said, “ And now, Frances, you must let me take your arm to —to—the door of—of—the bridal chamber: for my fee—ee—lings are overpow—ow—ering me.” Had his Royal Highness said that he was s0 drank he could scarcely stand, he would have been nearer the mark : but a tipsy person seldom thinks that he is really intoxicated, and at all events is certain to assume any reason rather than the truth for his strangeness of conduct. The Countess of Jersey supported the Prince as well as she was able: but he nearly dragged her down more than once as he staggered and stum- bled along the passage leading to the nuptial apartment. Fortunately for his Royal Highness, there was no loitering dependant nor curious menial in the passage at the time ;—and thus the beastly state of intoxication in which he was seek- ing the bridal chamber escaped the notice of any of the members of his household. At length they reached that room which ought to have been made the sanctuary of love, but which a disgusting voluptuary was about to pollute with his presence. The conviction that he was not in a fit state to enter that chamber, appeared sud- denly to flash to the mind of the Prince : and some- what startled into sobriety, he pressed his hand to his brow—leant against the wall—and stared in- tently upon Lady Jersey's countenance for nearly & minute. “ My dear Frances,” ho muttered, in a faultering, hiccoughing tone, “I don’t think—ink—that I’m “What do you fancy to be the matter with your- self, my dear George?” demanded the Countess, likewise spcaking in an under-tone. “]__J__begin to think—ink,” stuttered his Royal ' Highness, with a look of hebetation and a stolid _ smile,—* that ['d much better go with you—to your room—oom—and pass the night—hic—in our—hic—arms.” “Much as I should rej oice, dear George, to have you as my companion,” retprned the Countess, her heart in reality heaving at the sickly vinous smell ' with which the royal voluptuary’s breath was laden, “{ must implore you to renounce the idea instan- taneously. I have already told you that it would | be ruinouws——” Ovo Sl =<» Erin. ay «“ True—true,” muttered the Prince. “But I feel —eel—_so—hic—go very queer.” “It is the excitement,” remarked Lady Jersey, with a bewitching smile. “You have had a great deal to agitate you within the last few days.” “But don’t you think, Frances—that is, I mean —hic—don’t you really believe that I’ve taken a— hic—a leetle drop—just one glass—hic—too much” said the Prince, his speech growing more broken and the power of sustaining himself upoa his legs becoming every instant less effective. “Do not entertain such notions, George,” whis- pered the Coantess, in a tone of tender remon- strance. “You are a little excited—but nothing more. Indeed, it is scarcely possible to perceive that you have been drinking anything at all.” “Are you sure, Frances?” asked the Prince, now really inclined to fancy himself sober, so sin- cere, frank, and ingenuovus seemed the assurance which his patrician paramour gave him. ‘“Well— if ’'m sober, then, Pil make up my mind—hic—to —to——” But here he swayed backward and forward in so alarming a manner, as he moved away from the wall against which he had been leaning, that he nearly fell héadlong himself and brought the Countess down with him. She however exerted all her strength at the moment, and averted the disagreeable catastrophe: then, having received a few caresses which his Royal Highness thought fit to bestow upon her, Lady Jersey slowly opened the door of the nuptial chamber ! The Princess tf Wales was reposing in the bridal bed. A soft and dreamy drowsiness had stolen gradually upon her when the Bed-Chamber Ladies had retired and she was left alone. It was not an actual slumber that steeped her senses in oblivion—but a partial somnolence which closed the eyes, lulled the physical energies into rest, and yet left the mind so far awake that the least inci- dent would arouse it altogether. The room was sumptuously furnished. Every- thing was new—and the most exquisite taste had superintended the appointments and decorations of that nuptial chamber. The cheeks of the Princess were slightly flushed;—and she looked really beautiful as she reposed in that bridal bed. There was a halo of innocence—a perfume of chas- tity about the fair sleeper, which would have ravished the heart of any man of honourable, ge- /nerous, and delicate feeling. Her moist red lips were slightly apart, revealing the pearls which lay beneath—those brilliant teeth that Lady Jersey had dared to decry! A soft dim- ple on the rounded chin gave an air of girlish sweet- ness to the whole countenance. One well-shaped arm, white as alabaster, lay outside the coverlid: the snowy night-dress, open in front, revealed the bosom rich in'its glowing yet virgin contours. The mellow lustre of the lamps ia the bridal chamben gave just sufficient light and warmth to render the place a fitting sanctuary for love. ‘The fire had died away in the grate; and the atmo- sphere was of a pleasant temperature. The cur- tains shaded the couch, save where the head of the Princess lay upon the luxurious pillow; and with the gentle and regular respiration to which her bosom rose and fell as if in long, measured, stifled sighs, the hue of the rose deepened or grew lighter upon her cheeks. a _ ane ElOOO® SS