The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 126: what you’re looking at

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Cees — te ge THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. 115 CHAPTER CVII. THE DISGUISED ONS. It was evening—a beaatiful evening in the middie of September; and a gentle breese had succeeded the heat of a day of more than usual sultriness for that period of the year. Queen Indora was walking in the garden attached to her beautifal | the countenance—by the until this minute eomprehended what female beauty was: bat now he began to underatand what was meant by regular and well chiselled features —by eyes of splendid lustre—by nobly arching brows that gave intelligence and lofty frankness to magnificent symmetry of shape—and by the blending of all that elegance, gracofulnese, and dignity which combined to render Indora at once the fascinating and the queeh-like woman she was. Yes—all this did the villa in the neighbourhood of Notting Hill and | Burker begin to appreciate; and the brutal raf- Bayswater: she was alone, and reflecting upon the incidents of her past life. The purple which blended with the other hues of her garments, in- dicated that she was in mourning, Her dress was half European, half oriental. She wore the flow- lng skirt beiongiog to the feminine garb of the former style: a species of caftan, and the under- garinent developing the rich proportions of ber bust, were of the Eastern fashion. The jetty masses of her hair hung far down her back, below her waist, and seemed like a thick ebon veil which might be drawn at will over the counte- nance. There wasa certain degree of pensivehess ox~ preesed in the looks of the Queen, which was not however altogether sorrowful. Subjects for mourn- ing and rejoicing were blending in her thoughte: on one side was her father’s death—on the other the assurance which she had received from Clement Redcliffe that he would antept her hand. Still Indora was thoughtful: she walked with a slow pace; and wher reaching a fountain in the midst of the garden, she stood there gazing upon the flow of the crystal water, and giving way to the reflections that were uppormost in her mind. From amidst a knot of trees an ominous coun. tenance was surveying her. Without preserving any unnecessary mystery in the present instance, we will at once declare that the individual thus concealed was none other than Barney the Burker, Nothing could be more admirable than the fellow’s disguise—nothing more evmplete than his trans- mogrification, so to speak. He wore the wig with frizzly curle which the Duke of Marchmont had given him: his countenance was stained duskily with the dye which he had obtained from the same source: he wore spectacles; and a large overhang- ing moustache concealed the malformation of his upper lip. In respect to apparel, the Burker had @ very decent appearance; and he no longer re- tained the huge club which was wont to be his almost inseparable companion. In this disguise was it that Barney had dared to come up to Lon. dun; and now for the first time he had penetrated rae the grounds of the villa where Queen Indora welt. Little suspected the oriental lady that she was in the close vicinage of one who harboured such evil designa towards her: little likewise did she imagine that the power of her beauty was at that instant exercising its influence over the soul of one fianism of his neture was melting under the in- fluence of that supernal loveliness which he was now surveying. Indeed, the eastern lady appeared to him something more than woman: ehe looked as if she were a goddess: there was something about her which not merely charmed—it likewise overawed; and there was a moment when the miscreant alwost felt as if he conald rush forth from his ambush, throw himself at her feet, and implore her pardon ! _ Indora passed away from the vicinage of the fountain; and as the Burker followed with his eyes her clowly retreating form, he thought to . himself that never had he befere been struck by the beauty which exists in a woman’s faaltiess shape. These hitherto anknown feelings expanded - and strengthened within him; and it seemed as if © he had suddenly become altogether a difforent being from what he was. Indora disappeared in . a turning of the gravel-walk; and then the Burker asked himself, “ What the devil is all this that has come over me? I feel just like achild. I sup- pose it mast be because I havn’t got my club as usual; and I’m like a lion without his teeth and claws. And yet that lady és uneommon besutiful! I never thought so much before of what a woman's good looks might be.” Here Indora reappeared to the Burker’s view: he left off communing with himself—his gaze was once more riveted upon her. As she drew nearer, he beheld an expression of ineffable sadness pass over her countenance: she was thinking of her | late father, and the tears trickled down her cheeks. , She raised her kerchief te wipe them away; and the Burker was struck by the exquisite modelling of her hand and of as much of the arm as the | sleeve of the caftan suffered to be visible.. Then | she thonght of Clement Redcliffe; and a sweet smile played upon her lips, revealing a glimpse of the teeth of ivory whiteness. The Burker literally quivered at the strangeness of theee new feelings which had come over him; and agnin was he on the point of rushing forth and imploring the lady’s pardon for the design which he had enter- tained towards her. But he checked himeelf: for at the instant his ear caught other footsteps advancing along a neighbouring gravel-walk. It was Sagoonah, who sought her mistress; and now the Barker beheld that splendid Hindoo woman the dark granduer of whose beauty was of so high an order, and whose lithe form was of so of the greatest miscreants in all Christendom. | bayadere a symmetry. The Burker was astonished And yet such was the case. The Burker—whoee . disposition was naturally of a brutal callousness, ' and whe of all men in the world was the least susceptible of a sentiment that could interfere with any businees that he had on hand—was now at the spectacle of this new personification of an- other style of feminine charms: and as the two walked away together, he followed them with his gase. Batasin his own mind he endeavoured to ‘establish a choice between them, it settied upon suddenly smitten with a feeling hitherto unknown. Indora. Yet was the rude, brutal heart of this Is appeared to him as if he had never rightly | maa who was stained with a thousand crimes, and (CO G OOO SS} (CO