The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 293: what you’re looking at

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282 whisper in the Earl's ear, “I will be terribly avenged for this! To-morrow all London shall know that Lerd Desborough is a miserable im- potent, and that his wife has been the mistress of the resuscitated felon Ramsey.” . The nobleman became pale as a corpee and stag- gered back as if struck by a death-blow: but, in- stantaneously recovering himself, he replied in a low hoarse tone, * Do so—and in the evening I will declare in the House of Lords the conditions upon which that same Philip Ramsey procured a pardon through the interest of the Prince of Wales!” “Ah! what is that whispering?” suddenly ex- claimed Meagles, clutching his Royal Highness forcibly by the arm, “The Prince menaces me,” was the calm obser- vation made by the Earl. “E thought as much!” 4 Meagien. “Bat, by heavens! we will be terribly avenged uporm him, if he dare injure a hair of your lord- ship’s head. And now begone, you Prince of Rascals!” added the imdignant Tim, peshing his Royal Highness violestly towards the door. The infuriate Prines would have blurted forth some vindictive mendce: but his lips were sealed by the terror of having the contents of the pistal sent after him. The vengeance ef Mezgies was not however quite completed yet: ane lat humi- liation he berned to inflict upen his soyal adver- sary;—and yet he wavered fer a moment. But only for 2 moment !—the temptation was too strong, and the provocation he had in various ways received was too great, not to overcome all mo- mentary scruples. Accordingly, he placed the pistol upem the mantel—bounded after the Prince —and, applying his foot te the nethermost quarter of the royal voluptuary, kicked him down the stairs. Oh! crowning infamy—supreme humiliation! A yell of mingled pain and rage burst from the lps of his Royal Highness ;—and his retreat by means of the private @eor ef Stamford Maner was aceom- plished with an almost maredible eaburity. “Now, Mr. Meagies,” said the Bari of rough, when Tim returned, laughing heartily, to the parlour, after having performed the foregoing feat,—“ you must permit me to offer you some tes- timonial of my gratitude for the service which you have rendered me this night.” “TI want nothing, my lord,” responded Tim. “You have already done enough for me by attest- ing this document and thereby confirming its vali- dity beyond all possibility of dispute on the part of the Prince,” “But inasmach as you exhibit such a marvel- lous aptitude for the somewhat difficult task of coping with that unprincipled voluptuary,” resumed the Earl—" and as I myself have no inclination to spare him in the slightest degree, I fancy that a certain little acknowledgment which I possess, and which bears his signature, would prove more useful in your hands than in mine. Without farther preface, thercfore, I beg your acceptance of this receipt for twenty thousand pounds, in which the Prince is indedted to me;—and I hope you will succeed in recovering the amount.” “ By heavens! this is a gift not to be refused,” THE MYSTERIES. sparkling eyes and joyous features over the LO.U. which the Prince had given the Earl on that memo- rable night of his sojourn at Desborough House. “You need not hesitate to accept it—and I re- quire no thanks,” said Eleanor’s husband. “ I should never think of enforcing payment thereof on my own account: but you will not have the same scruples. I bestow it upon you, not only asa proof of gratitade, but likewise as a means of punishing an upprincipled voluptuary.” “On those conditions, my lord, I accept the handsome gift,” exclaimed Meagies: “and depend upon it, his Royal Highness shall be speedily brought to book.” Meagies then took leewe ef the Euri of Des- borough, and repaired te the wag-sits public- ‘house where Wasp had been le& im change of the horses, CHAPTER CECI SEB SECRET CORELAVE. It wes about six o'clock in the evening, tiuee. or four days after the cccurvencer just related, that four persons ware absorbed in carnes$ enmvern- tiem in a email bet well-farnished parium im Bany Sereet, St. Janers. One was a veneraip-looking old man, with white hair, and a demeaneur that warnt ence imposing and calculated to iuspive a profound respect. Me was dressed ina somewhat eld-fashioned style, ba with a remarlehble precision and nenfness; and in the batten-hole of his lapeliing double-breasted coat he wore the riband of a foreign ordi. The seeond individual in this groep was a fine tall, hamdsome man, in the puime ef lif, but with & certain air of dissipation and debanchery beusath the gentility of his appemmanee.. Hip mummexp wore those of a polished courtier: his apparel. was ip the best passibte taste >—end. yot Ghase was.a sumething about him, which, to the eye ef the keen observer accustamed to look deeper than the surface, denoted the accomplished rake and finished voluptuary. The third was a still younger man, of equally aristocratic appearance with the two individuals just presented to our readers—dressed as fashion- ably and as elegantly as the second — and having all the seriousness of countenance which charac- terised the first. His age could not have exceeded thirty ;—and yet his discourse wag as measured, his airas grave, and his demeanour as imposing as if he were far more advanced along the pathway of life. The first mentioned individual was the Marquis de Saint Croix—the second was the Marquis de Bellois—the third the Duke de Villebelle: and the person who made the fourth in the little knot of deliberators, was the reader’s old friend, Me, Page. The three first were French noblemen who had been ce wpelled to. fly from their native land, on account of their aristocratic station and their poli- tical opinions. The Marquis de Saint Croix was ' the one who had lert twenty thousand pounds to | the Prince of Wales a few months previously, at exclaimed Meagles: “and yet it is a reward a | the instigation of the Amazon: the Marquis de | thousand times greater than I can either deserve | Bellois was the object of Mrs. Fitzherbert’s passing | or look for,” added Meagies, as he glanced with ' amour during that lady’s temporary residenec in | ElOOOl|KS