The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 254: what you’re looking at

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

a ee ee ge 2 Ee ere ee gn a a ee <e! eee ee of a few minutes; and her voice, soft and masical, was playfully bantering and full of good-humoured archness. “Of what was I thinking, dearest?” inquired Florimel, now struck by the additional fact that the voloe of his charmer was far more dulcet, more tender, and more harmonious than that of the Mar- chioness of Bellenden. “You are seeking to establish my identity with some one of your female acquaintances,” responded the Unknown: “ you are racking your brain to dis- cover whose personal appearance and attributes, so far as you hnow them, would exactly correspond with mine, so far as you can form an idea of them. Now am I not right, Gabriel ?—and if right, is not this a little piece of treachery on your part—ren- dered less justifiable, too, by the devotedness with which I have tended you during your really dan- gerous illness ?” “Oh! parden—pardon me, my invaluable friend |” 83 THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. 2kL that you will permit me to assure you how impos- : " ary Bie exclaimed the young nobleman, touched to his very heart's core by the plaintive accents which her voice assumed as she gave utterance to those in- terrogative remonstrances. “lam unworthy of all the tenderness you have lavished upon me—all the love which you have shown so many times towards me! Yes—I confess that I was allowing my ima- gination to run riot into the realms of conjecture and seek to discover the mystery of your identifi- cation. It was indeed Wrong—unwortny of) mynelt —unjust, ungenerous, ungrateful to you But, Oh! can you be surprised—even though you may feel hurt and angry——" “JI am no longer hurt—and not for a moment was I angry, Gabriel,” interrupted the lady, in her softest tones: and she silenced with the fondest kisses the reply he was about to make. “There— let us say no more upon the subject—uniless it bo sible it is for you to discover my secret until the CONMUCIIOW co