The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 394: what you’re looking at

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

TRE MYSTERIES. nD a> aa wemen, gasing affectionately inta the face af her seducer,—" now that I feel the approach of digsola- tion and that I must. speedily quit this earthly sphere for ever, I experience a.retarn of thet love ‘mbich my. heart once cherished so fondly, so .wemly for thea! Ah! the presence of. . doubtiesa works grand.ang signal in the bwaan upinds—quencling the fires of evil passions, . abd reviving, the flames of those which were want to warm the heart with a holier and purer influenee! I opuld not leave this world in anger with thee: I longed to breathe the-word ‘pardon’ with my own line, and hear i¢ fall from thine. My wigh has been accomplished —and I feel happieg— Oh! .much happier! But let me not waste precious time nor my owm energies in giving expression to my -feel- -dnga: rather let me ag once proceed to deal. with facts. Gabriel,” she continued, in a more meagured and a deepar tone, while she gaged half timidly. up inta.his countenance, as if now shrinking from the teal which she had imposed upomherself,—.“ Gabrial, you can but too easily conjecture the motives-which led me. to seek an introduction to your dwelling in the disguise of the black page Rao. I will not @a more—at least for the present—than admit that I was avimated by no friendly motive towards thee! You remember that shortly after I managed to obtain admission into your establishment, the Baril of Moatgomery called upon yeu, While you - were tagether I had oocasion to enter the apart. ment to bring you a letter; and just as I opened the.door L heard yon say that all your papers and parchments were kept in a tin-box under your bed. The words struck upon my ears like a clue «0 something that “as as yet unrevyealed 40 me, but which I should sooner or later find out; and per- ceiving that your conversation with Lord Mont- gomery had taken a serious kind of a. tane, I lis- tened at the door of the apartment. First I heard the Earl speak mistrnstfully of me;—and subse- quently came the long narrative of love azd mys- tery which you reaited to the Earl, and. which was elicited by the incident of the masquerade ticket and tife blue domino. When you summoned me and gave orders that the domino should. be burnt, I saw by Lord Montgomery’s manner that he- was chagrined and vexed: and I was struck by the emspicien that he wished to take your place at the masquerade, At the same instant the thought Gashed to my mind that the whole affair might be rendered available to my vindictive purposes; and I reselved at all events not to burn the blue domino. As Lord Montgomery was taking his departure, I spoke to him in the hall; and he bade me come to him at Graften Street in the evening. Thither I accerdingly repaired; and aocidest led me to over. hear a conversation which took place between him- self and Mr. Rigden. This discourse related to the law-suit which Rigdea was then about to com- , maence againat you; and I heard: enough to oon- , vince me that it was already in my power to injure you seriously, if not ruin you completely. When Rigden had taken his departere, I explained my business to Lord Montgomery; and he. gladly accepted my proposal to give him the blue domino whieh you bad urdered me to burn.” “Al! aod it was Montgomery, then, who played the part of your accomplice at the maaguerade !" cried F'lorimel. “But did he encounter the Un- Known on thet cecasion 2” oq “ Most assuredly—and it was for this purpose that he went thither,” returned Caroline Walters. “ Meanwhile Pauline Clarendon had failen into a anare which I had laid for her; and her jealousy being excited by an anonymous letter——”* “ IT am agquainted with these particulars, Caroline,” said Florimel: then, after a brief pause, he added “ Pauline and I are reconciled—and she bas told me everything relative to the part which she was in- "duced to play so painfully in the masquerade.” — - “I am giad that you sre reconciled—sincerely, unfeignedly glad,” observed the dyimg girl, in a voice expressive of deep feeling. “May you be happy together—oh! may you be happy together!” and the tears rolled down her pale cheeks. “You performed the past of a Gipsy on the ooca- sion to which we are alluding,” said Florimel, after another pause, which was longer than the previous one, “ Bat let us not dwell upon this subject——” “You understand that my motive was to estrange you completely from Pauline,” resumed Caroline, with the abruptness of one who seeks to dispose as quickly as possible of an unpleasant explanation which it is nevertheless requisite to make, “I saw that you loved her—loved her devotedly; and as the consummation of your unbappiness was then, alas ! my fixed, my inveterate, and my implacable aim, I had greedily seized upon the incident of the masquerade to cause a breach between yourself and that amiable, unofiending young lady. But, oh! this was not all the mischief which I worked against you, Gabriel,” continued tha dying girl, her cheeks faintly flushing for a moment with the excitement of her feelings “T entered your chamber by night—I took your keys from beneath the pillow while you slept, and I purloined the documents from the tin-case under the bed. Those deeds I conveyed to Rigden, who did not hesitate to receive them at my hands. Ah! my vindictive hatred towards you then was fierce— ferocious—intense—diabolical. I would have sold myself to Satan in order to wreak upen your head a vengeance more refined, more excruciating, more torturing’ than any that unassisted human nature could devise. And do you not recollect the day when —_— Etold you the fabricated tale of a seduced and de- | eerted sister? Ohi’ I saw you writhe and wince | beneath the scourge of scorpions with which I was then lashing you 60 mercilessly !” “ And, by heaven!” exclaimed Florimel, “ I sus- pected at the time that there was something sinister in the meaning of the tale—something darkly and terribly significant in your looks and words——Oh |! yes—I did indeed writhe and wince, as you expeess yourself, Caroline—and even in that incident were you signally avenged | “ The conversation was interrupted at the time by the arrival of your solicitor, Mr. Cresswell,” resamed Caroline. “He brought you the intelligence that Mr. Rigden had given him notice of the suit—and you repaired to your chamber to fetch the deeds, I accompanied you thither :—and new does a pang of bitter remorse shoot through my heart, as I call to mind the fiendish satisfaction which I experienced when the word ‘ Ruin,’ bursting from your lips, fell upon my ear! But merciless as an avenging angel, I wrote to Mr. Rigden to inform him of the fact that the deeds had been missed, and that their loss had filled you with dismay. On the same evening you went out——” “Yea—I remember,” sgid Fiorimel, in a musing DOO SS (COLUM