The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 76: what you’re looking at

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

THE MYSTERIES. o a passages: for it was in the middle of winter that this entertainment was given. Towards midnight my brother suffered so much from the intensity of the heat that he was compelled to return home the instant the carriage, which had been ordered to attend early, was announced: bat he would not permit me to accompany him. On the contrary, he bade me remain and enjoy myself until the end; and he observed that although he should send back the carriage to wait for me, I need not be in any hurry on that account. I thanked him for his kind considera- tion—assisted him into the carriage—and then re- turned to the ball-rooms, where I entered fully into the spirit of the scene. I[t was about two o'clock in the morning that the company began to break up; and then commenced in the adjacent streets all that confusion, noise, bustle, and din which invariably at- tend upon the vast muster of carriages on such an occasion. The hall and the grand entrance of the ducal mansion were crowded with the guests waiting for the announcement of their respective equipsges; —the footmen were bawling out for the carriages which were in req'isition—the link-boys repeated the cries—the coachmen responded from all direc- tions—and these vociferations were mingled with the crashing sounds of wheels and the tramplings of horses’ hoofs. At that moment there could not have been Jess than five or six hundred carriages in the vicinage of Devonshire House; and the arrange- ments to marsha! and muster them appeared to have been singularly neglected. I had undertaken to escort Lady Bonnycastle and her daughter; and, javing after some difficulty succeeded in getting up their barouche to the gate, I had just handed them in and bowed the parting salutation, when, as their carriage was whirled away, another dashed up to the entrance. ‘ Who's next ” demanded the stentorian voice of the porter of Devonshire House.—‘ Lord Florimel's carriage !" replied a tall footman in dark Avery, springing down from behind the vehicle which had just driven up and opening the door with alac- city. That is not my brother's carriage, I ex- claimed, the hasty glance which I threw at it con- vincing me there must be some mistake.—‘ All righé, cir! This ie for the Honourable Mr. Florimel,’ said the tall footman in dark livery, touchinz his hat: and before I could utter another syllable or ask a word of explanation, I was lifted as it were by the fellow’s vigorous arm up the steps into the vehicle— the door was banged—I became suddenly enveloped in total darkness—and the abrupt jerk with which the carriage whirled away threw me completely back upon the seat. At that moment my hand came in contact with the silken skirt of a female dress; and before even an ejaculation of astonishment could escape my lips, I was clasped in the arms of a lady whose warm cheek instantaneously came ia contact with my own—whose bosom heaved against my chest —and whose voice, tremulous with mingled fervour and triumph, whispered in my ear, ‘ Fear nothing, Florimel—and pardon one who loves you /’—Then, returning the ardour of the embrace in which I was so suddenly caught and so firmly locked, I gave back the impassioned kisses which were the next moment lavished upon me; and for many minutes not another word was spoken inside that vehicle.” “You gave back the kisses,” said Lord Mont- gomery, laughing; “and it might Lave been some old woman who had adopted this stratagem to win ~ou to her arms.” sa ra ONE OL en’ “Qh! believe me, my dear Eugene,” oxclaimed Florimel, “that although the darkness of the tomb prevailed within that carriage—for the wooden blinds were all drawn up,—yet no sooner did I come in contact with that warm and glowing form—no sooner did I feel the firm plump bosom heaving in its rich luxuriance againat my breast—and no sooner did I taste as it were the luscious moisture of the lips and drink in the fragrance of the balmy breath,—Oh! no sooner, I say, was I thus suddenly plunged into the sweets of paradise, than I became well aware that such raptures emanated only from the com- panionship of a most desirable woman. And aban- doning myself to the thrilliug and ecstatic feelings which were inspired alike by her impassioned ar- dour and by the charming novelty of this adventure, I became intoxicated as it were with the perfume of voluptuousness which stole upon my senses as a de- lictous dream sheds its influence upon the mind. Nothing could equal the intense fervour of those caresses which my companion lavished upon me in the midst of that pitchy darkness: her kisses were long, burning, and devouring—as if she threw her whole soul into the profound sensuousness of her enjoyment. And when I gave back those caresses, she strained me to her bosom with all the indomit- able fervour of her maddened desire—and with a violence which even hurt me, but which she had no power to control: while, beneath the influence of the kisses which [ imprinted upon her lips, I felt her whole form twist, writhe, and undulate as it were in my arms’ like a silken cord that is shaken. For there was something even ferocious in the desires of that woman—something’ furious and raging in the headlong whirl of her passions !"’ “ By heaven! this is one of the most extraordi- nary adventures I ever heard,” exclaimed Lord Montgomery ; “and if I did not know you so inti- mately, Gabriel, 1 should conceive that you were endeavouring td amuse me with a romance.” “Tam telling you the exact truth, on my most solemn and sacred word of honour!” returned Lord Florimel. “Such an asseveration is quite unnecessary, my dear friend,” said Montgomery. “But pray pro- ceed with your narrative: [ am dying to learn the result.” “ For some minutes,” resumed the young noble- man, “I gave myself up entirely to the voluptuous enjoyment of that strange and mysterious adventure, as 3 Man m a dream resolves to drink his fill of those elysian eweets into the midst of which his fancy wafts him. The darkness which prevailed was that of hell: but the pleasure which I enjoyed was that of paradise. And all this time the carriage was whirling rapidly along; and I neither cared nor took the trouble to conjecture whither it could be bearing me, or what was to be the issue of my adventure. The intoxicating cup of ineffable bliss was at my lips; and [ abandoned myself to the delirious ecatasies of the draught, without pausing to reflect whether poison was mingled with its sweets, At length I said in a low murmuring whisper—for there was such a deep and abeorbing mystery in this adventure, that it almost appeared to me as if loud- speaking would break the spell of pleasure and disenchant the glow- ing vision,—‘' Beautiful unknown,’ I said, ‘you have taught me the way to paradise: but the means you have adopted to entice me into this path of pleasure, have been somewhat of the most extranrdinary '~< wa ElOOO® SS