The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 263: what you’re looking at

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20 THE mMroTruntds. hues of health : slightly sunken, they were pale and colourless, alike with the canker of care and the olight of sickness. Her eyes,—no longer rolling in a voluptuous languor, nor lighting up with the flame of fervid passion and joyous emotion,;—were fixed in look, and full of a deep, deep melancholy, varied at intervals by a certain vacaney which in- dicated that recently unsettled condition ef the mind whence she had net recevened:. The rich contours of her foxm still retained their course, “ whether you have seen your noble father lately, Miss Pauline ?” “ No—I have not seen him for some time,” an- swered the young lady: then, in an abstracted mood, she added, “Not since the day of his mar- riage with Miss Aylmer.” “ And dues he not know where you are residing?” demaxied: @e ex-bagman. “Does he not also know———.” And he gianesed significantly towards Octavia, who at that moment was gazing vacantly upon the carpet. *Bo—no,” repiied Pauline, with something like mingled end bitterness in her tone: then, in a.Jow and Rursfed whisper, she observed, “Do not, E hapless yon, speak upon any topic which meg toucks painfal chord in the heart of my sister.” grown thinner, speak yet, any ad&iutrer of the sex whe hed never sven her before, would not hesitate evem now to pro- | nounee her a most lovely creature, alike in face -and form. We have already observed that she was in the ~way to become a mether: but her condition in this respect wae not as yetegparent. At the same time ‘the truth-—ihis apamatter of course, Acnown unto DRessclf, and te Vasdine,—known also. ‘to Mr. and Mim Page, who hed discovered the -secret inthe wag alveady explained by the former in his conversatien with the Prince of Wales. To his Royal Highness tietesesehhad been eomaneni- -cated by Pauline && & hriaf but tenshing letter ; for ‘the maiden considesed i te: be hee duty to mala | he ip ignemnt-——-I God! that I can even sustain that announcement te-tite fieihen of the babe whid: Octavia bore in her Basen. ‘iat letter wer bee. ever dated from ho pasticulr ediivess,—cdviogs: reasons inducing Pauline to eunceal her pleve ef | she thus apoke. abode ftom the knowledjre-of Heeman whe, sffer 98- ducing ler elaten, had: sought te disbencer harself! The vielts of Mx. and Mrs. Page weeld havebeen “ch dispensed with by the Honourable Biles Pauline Clarseadon: but, as we have ere now eteted, they had exhibited so much asighbourly friendship ‘towards the sisters, that & was impossible to reocive ‘them otherwise than with due courtesy. Although she had gained so much bitter experience in the ‘ceading of the world’s lessons, and although the manifold dark phases of the human character had -been forced upon her contemplation by such a series -of infelicitous circumstances, yet her confidence in ‘fier species was not so utterly destroyed as to render her suspicious without a cause. She therefore saw no selfish, sinister, nor interested motive in the kind- ness which Page and his spoese appeared to de- monstrate towards her sister and herself: she ‘ooked upon him as a well meaning, bustling man, asomewhat eccentric and prying witiral—and mpon his wife as a good-natured woman, excessively igno- rantand supremely volgar ;—but she would have ‘Deen startled with indeed, had any body whispered in her ears a single word calcniated to throw a proper light upon the character aud -Gisposition of that mean, unprincipled, intriguing, cal couple. And thus, upon the occasion specified at the of this chapter, we find Mr. and Mrs. Page comfortably enscenced in the handsomely- arnished pariour of the villa occapied by Octavia and Pauline Clarendon. “Might I inquire, without being deemed imper- €inent,” said Mr. Page, after a brief lapse in the dis- a shnilarly sebdued voice. deed to distarb a mind which within the last few days has made such marvellous progress towards the recovery of its equilibrium. But is it posible,” he asked in. a whisper, unscgmaintedh with. tbat my peer sister is in. a way calculated to afford poor “Netfor workds [° ejaculated Mr. Page, but in “1 should be sorry in- “that Lord Holderness is his. daugittec’s affliction—and its peepended. Praline, in a.tone that wes scaruely au- dible anil with a lool: fall of emation >—“and he haows Ghewies thet her reuse was affected. But my feelings ot the iden!——he is ignorant, I say living evidanes. of her dishonoar!t” . i diem the tears rolled dowa Pasiine’s chashe as “Come, come, mp dear young lady, elieer up,” | Bagp, new taking seid: Bie. cemsolse.. upon herself the part of “Fe is not ee enayto cheer up, Julia,” remarked | her husband, “when one Aas many causes of aMfiiction to contemplate and experience. Is your father happy and comfortable in this alliance which he has formed ?” asked the ex-bagman, once more giving free vent to his curiosity. “TI cannot say—I know nothing of the matter, Mr. Page,” answered Pauline, speaking in a tone which plainly declared that the subject was dis- agreeable to her. “Well, Miss—I will not utter another word upon the topic,” said the ex-bagman. “By the bye, I believe that unhappy young gentleman, the Hon. Arthur Eaton, is a relation of yours—is he net?” Pauline replied in the affirmative. * But do you believe him guilty of the frightful deed impated to him ” asked Mr. Page. * Assurediy not [” exclaimed the generous-hearted maiden, her eheeks flushing with indignation at the bare suspicion which the query implied against a young man whose soul, she felt assured, was fail of the loftiest and noblest feelings. “Depend upen it,” she continued, with 2 marked emphasis, “ that my cousin Arthur is as innocent of that foul crime as Tam myself,—and his guiltlessness will become t when the judicial investigation takes place. At least, I should hope that the strange and mysterious circumstances which have combined to make him victim, will be fally and completely . AOOLK GQuip== « Cy oo i reer ES, ye re ET a nnn, EEE ee co