The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 98: what you’re looking at

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

THE MYSTERIES. 85 the domestic evidently comprehended full well : and touching his hat, he instantanepusly disappeared. In a few moments Lord Montgomery rejoined the lady, over whose shoulders he threw the handsome cloak which he had been to fetch, and the forgetting of which was a mere stratagem on her part in order to gain the opportunity of issuing her commands to the footman relative to the carriage. Eoveloped in her mantle and leaning upon Mont- gomery’s arm, she now issued from the theatre; and, a hackney-coach being summoued, the dis- guised pair entered it together. “ Where to, sir?” domanded the driver, address- ing the nobleman. “Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury—and stop opposite the Museum,” the lady hastened to reply; —and away went the coach, “ Qh ! my dearest friend,” murmured Lord Mont. gomery, now taking the plump warm haad of his companion and pressing it fervently in his own,— “how can I sufficiently thank you for thus remem. bering me and condescending to renew the in- effable delights of that first occasion when you made me so supremely happy! Ere now io the theatre I had no time to express to you all the gra- titude I experience—all the raptures which you have excited in my soul—all the bliss which you have poured into my heart. But now—the first moment that we are really alone together—I hasten to give you the fondest, tenderest, and most fervid assurances of gratitude —love — adoration! O lady—never have I forgotten, even for an instant, those four hours of elysian enjoyment which I tasted in your arms ;—and my soul can scarcely believe that so much happiness is in store for it once again—but trembies lest it should awaken from a deliclous dream and find all the ecstatic thoughts which now fill it oozing rapidly away, and all the warmth of its blissful emotions turning into the iciness of a stern disappointment.” Jn this strain did Earl Montgomery continue to speak for some time—his purpose being to postpone as long as possible that moment so perilous to bis hopes and lis entire stratagem, when the truth must be revealed and the tremendous discovery would be made that he was not Lord Florimel. For he had already calculated that if he were only allowed the leisure and the opportunity to excite the passions of this woman whose nature was so ardent and whose desires were so uncontrollable, he would be certain te carry out his adventure to a successful issue and triumph over any feeling of anger or alarm which the discovery of the imposture might raise up in the posom of the wanton lady. In a word, his purpose was to reduce her to the absolute necessity of accept- ing himself as a substitute for the lover whom she hoped to meet ;—and as he pretty well guessed that the ride in a hackney-coach tu Great Russell Street was only one of the many precautions which the crafty lady was wont to adopt, and that some other vehicle would receive them at that spot in order to convey them elsewhere, he calculated that it would be far more conducive to the success of his scheme to maintain the cheat until they were within the close vicinage of their ultimate destination, wherever it might be. And fortunate, perhaps, was it for the success of the Earl's stratagem that the lady had taken the hired vehicle in the first instanee. For had she at once entered her own carriage in company with Montgomery, she would have instantaneously taken off her mask and torn the satin vizard likewise away from his countenance in order to pour forth her voluptuous sou! in the caresses which she would have lavished upon him. His whiskers would then have revealed to her all in a moment that he was not the young nobleman whom she had hoped and expected to meet; and in the first fury of her rage terror, and disappointment, she might have indig nantly ordered the intruder to quit her carriage—a command which, as a gentleman, he would have been bound to obey. Such might have been the sudden result of the adventure had the private carriage been used in the first instance. But, as it was, the Circassian Slave d:d not think it worth while to disturb her own mask immediately, inasmuch as it would be neces- - sary to resume it again on passing from the hackney- coach to the carriage: she accordingly restrained her longings to preas her lips to those of her com- panion ;—and, contenting herself by reclining her head on his shoulder and abandoning her hand to his pressure, she listened in a dreamy and sensuous rapture to the glowing language which he poured into her ears with all the deep tenderness of his whispering vvuice. In alittle less than ten minutes the hackney-coach stopped; and Montgomery heard some one say to the driver, “ You need not get down—lI will open the door—and here is your fare.” Immediately afterwards the door of the hackney- coach was opened by a tall man who had on a great- coat such as was wern in those times by footmen in livery; and his hat was put on in such a way as to shade his countenance. Montgomery instantly re- membered the tall lacquey mentioned by Lord Florimel, and felt convinced that this was the same. The moment the door of the vehicie was opened, the Circassian Slave hastened to alight; and the Earl immediately fullowed her. The instant his feet touched the paveineut, be darted a rapid glance up and down the street to ascertain if a carriage were in attendance; and he had just time to observe tbat there was an equipage standing in the deep shade thrown by the gate-way of the British Museum, when the hood of his domino was pulled completely over his mask and he was thus involved in utter darkness. At the same moment he heard the hackney-coach drive away;—and he was then hurried along to- wards the spot where he had observed the carriage standing. The vigorous arms which thus dealt so uncere- moniously with him, again reminded him of Lorc Florimel|’s history and seemed to coafirm his belief that the man io the great coat and the slouched hat was the same tall footman who figured io that narrative, Into the carriage was he now promptly hoisted ;— and as the door closed behind him, he was received in the arms of the lady who had already taken her place in the vehicle. “ My own dearest Gabriel,” she exclaimed, in a tone full of passion, and joy, and anxious longing, as the carriage drove rapidly away,—*“ we may now embrace each other and exchange kisses of leve and tenderness !” And as she thus spoke, she threw back the hood of Montgomery’s domino—tore the mask from his countenance—and glued her lips to his mouth witb all that frenzied ardour and devouriog fury whioh Lord Florimel had so glowingly described. ElOOO® SS