The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 252: what you’re looking at

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

nr OE Eee THE MYSTERIES. “But will you take this business in hand ?—will you guarantee to remove Octavia Clarendon to some place of security 7” demanded the Prince. “TJ will, your Royal Highness,” was the answer. sei? on your wife—is. she as trustworthy as your- “ There's nota pin’s point between us in that ct.” “Then let her so insinuate herself into the con- fidence of Pauline—of Pauline, mind,” observed the Prince, in a low deep tone,—“that the young maiden will learn ta look upon her as a sincere friend in whom the most implicit trust is to be placed. Pauline must not know, therefore, that you have anything to do with the removal of Octavia——” | “Leave it all to me, illustrious Prince,” ejacu- lated Page: “ doth affairs shall be managed to your satisfaction. I understand what your Royal Highness means with to Pauline. Well— it shows the exquisite taste of your Royal Highness. ———In short, Pauline shall be yours,” he added, with a resolute emphasis and a significant look. * Good |l—we understand each other,” said the Prince. “ And now let me hear your views relative to reward—for I scarcely think that a man in an easy position of life as you are, will be satisfied with mere lucre.” “Your Royal Highness has judged me accu- rately,” exclaimed Mr. Page: then, after a little hesitation, he observed, “ [ presume that a few ho- nours and titlese—even so low as that of Knighi— will be conferred shortly in commemoration of your Royal Highness’s nuptials.” “Precisely so,” returned the Prinoe, with difi- culty subduing a violent inclination to burst out laugbing in the ex-bagmay’s face. “Should you like to be a Knight, Mr. Page ?” * The distinction would just suit me to a nicety,” was the complaisant response: “and I flatter my- self that Mrs. P. would not disgrace it.” “Then let this understanding be established be- tween us,” exclaimed the Prince: “that when Octavia Clarendon shall have been placed in re- straint and Pauline Clarendon delivered over to my arms, your shoulder is to receive the sccoolade of Knighthood.” “J shall soon win the honoer thus graciously guaranteed by your Royal Highness,” said Mr. P age. He then made a low bow and took his departure, well pleased with the promise which. had resulted from his visit to Carlton Homse. CHAPTER CLXXXIII. ER INVALID NORLEMAN AMD HIS UNKNOWK WORSE. Tax clock,—that cloek with its chimes which had led Florimel to discover where he was,-had just begun to strike as the young nobleman awoke. Ho lay still to count the strokes of the harmonious bell ;—and he reckoned twelve. “ Twelve!” he repeatedin an under-tone. “But is it twelve at noon or twelve at night?” he asked, speaking to himself under the momentary impres- sion that he was alone. “Noon, my dearest Gabriel—high noon by the sun,” was the immediate response murmuringly given in that well-known dulcet sound that proved so welcome to his ear: and at the same moment he felt her form leaning across his cheat—her glow- ing cheek met his— and her mouth, rich in its moist lubricity, was pressed to his own lips. “Noon, dearest—noon?” he repeated, so soon as he recovered the. breath which that long lux- urious kiss took away for upwards of a minute: “and have I slept, then, uninterruptedly since seven o'clock last evening?—and thaé too, after having lain ill for three days” “ It is precisely because you were so very, very il} for those three days that a good long interval of slumber was necessary to restore your exhansted strength,” answered the Unknown. “During that interval of three days you were sometimes raving in delirium — sometimes plunged into a trance whence I of ever awaking you. You had received a violent blow, which produced concussion of the brain—but I will at once relieve you from any apprebension relative to the beauty of your countenance, my. Gabriel, by assuring you that the wound on your forehead is comparatively slight and will leave no scar.” Thus speaking, in a voice full of concentrated tendernesa, the Unknown again bent over the in- valid and lavished upon him the softest, sweetest, and most delicious caresses,—but rather as a proof of leva than to excite his pasaions at that mo- ment. ‘ Thanks-—a thousand thanks, for the tender interest you exhibit in my behalf,” murmured Florimel. “ And during those three days you have been my -nurse?” he inquired, in a tone of deep “T have scarcely ever left you for a single mo- ment, Gabriel,” was the soft and tremulous reply; “and had it not been for me, you would have slept with Death! Ab! it was cruel, cruel in the ex- treme on the part of Lady Bellenden to send you away from her house in a state of insensibility and without even summoning a surgeon to examine your ailment. But she is a prude—a veritable prude—one of your unfeeling sanctimonious ones, who would sooner be thought heartless altogether than too easy in making allowances for the follies, errors, and weaknesses of their fellow-creatures.” “ Then the Marchioness thrust me ignominiously forth from her dwelling?” said Lord Florimel. «* Well—I am free to confess that I deserved such treatment on her part: for it was assuredly a sovereign insult for me to enter her presence in female disguise——-But perhaps you know nothing of the circumstances, my charmer?” exclaimed ae young nobleman, suddenly recoliecting him- * What I did not glean from Lady Bellenden’s servants, I could pretty well conjecture from be- holding you in the disguise of a female,” said the Unknown. “Thus it happened:—I was passing by Bellenden Priory in my barouche, when 1 saw at the gate a carriage which although a plain one, I instantaneously recognised as belonging to my friends the Desboroughs. Wishing to see the Countess of Desborough, I ordered my carriage to stop while I made inquiries whether it was her ladyship who was then paying a visit to the Priory. The domestics replied in the affirmative; and I was just alighting from my own carriage, when several . — aie (COLUM GOH GOO