The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 320: what you’re looking at

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

ge THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. SE A eC ern ae cree ec cS ES TGS), GRESNY yg rpe eer cee perils which surround-d him—and then to act, as circumstances should direct, either with grovelling entreaty or with lofty defiance. But Queen Indora had foreseen that through this phase the mind of the Duke of Marchmont would pase; and there- fore had she spared nothing in her arrangements which was calculated to sustain the most awe- inspiring effects, and to strike him as it were blow upon blow, each one more puwerful than ite prede- Cessor. Giunta CHAPTER CXLV. THE WITNESSES. Tax Queen, fatboming everything that was pase- ing in the mind of the criminal who now stood in her presence, suffered several minates to elapse be- fore she opened the proceedings by word of mouth. At length she spoke. It was in a dow, clear, measured voice—sufficiently cold to cofteey an im- pression of the implacable sternness of justice— and yet not deviating from the feminine harmony which became her sex and her queenly station. “ Prisoner,” she said, “ you have been summoned by the force of circumatances before a tribunal which, though not constituted according to the lawe of your country, nevertheless wields a power which you cannot possibly defy. I know full well all the hopes that yoy are now entertaining: bat ‘they will be defeated! Rest assured that I should not have undertaken a task in the accomplishment of which there was the slightest scintillation of doubt. Your own conscience must tell you whether you have in your lifetime perpetrated deeds that would render you amenable to any human tribu- nal; and if eo, then are you amenable to this! Man of many crimes, the hour of retribution is come~-and Providence hase ordained that the tan- gled web which you yourself have woven by your countless iniquities, shuuld this night close in finally around you !” The Duke of Marchmont thought for a moment of making a reply: but a second reflection bade him remain faithful to the policy of hearing all that could be alleged against him: for he had by this time begun to suspect who most of the wit- nesses were, that either veiled or masked were ar- rayed against him upon the platform. “Your crimes, prisoner,” continued Queen In. dora, “are now about to experience a terrible re- vival in your memory—even if that memory could ever have lost sight of them while conscience fed the eternal lamp which sheds ite light in the desecrated sanctuary of your souk Asa train of spectres passes through the diseased imagination, 00 shall your iniquities, as well as their accom- plices, their agents, or their victims, be presented in vivid reality to your view. First Jet me speak of that amiable and excellent wife of yours—the loving and affectionate Lavinia — whom by the of conspiracies you sought to brand with a charge as infamous as it was false, and to sully ber purity in order that you might obtain a ground for her repudiation. This, which was the lightest of your misdeeds, would for any other man be Crushing and overwhelming! And next I will peak to you of your black turpitude towards a wa weg, . yousg woman whose character was her only for- tune—and ‘against whom, by sid of opiate drugs, you perpetrated the fonlest and most infamous outrage. Behold! ehe is here !—she who is alike & witness ready to testify of your black designs against your wife, and of your dark eatanic villavy againat hereelf {” Thus speaking, Indora pointed towards the veiled female who sat upon her right hand: the veil was thrown off—adnd the countenance of Amy Sutton wae revealed. Looks of malignant hatred and fiond-like revenge were those whieb this in- jared young woman bent upon the Duke of March- mont; and he recoiled in horror therefrom—not so much besause the looks themselves touched « remorseful chord in his conscienee, as becaues it struck him that the victim of his lust was there to gloat over his final undoing and utter fall. “ And now I would address you as a man,” con- tinued Queen Indora, “ who endeavoured to suborn others to the execution of yoer villanous purposes -——as one who lavished gold by thousands to indgee a needy spendthrift to wield the bravo’a dagger against my own life! Here is a deed which, if proclaimed to the world, would bring you before a tribunal constituted on a basis different from this one! There sits the man who can testify how he was thus suborned, and who on a previous oocca- sion had lent his aid in your diabolical machina- tions against your own wife!” While giving utterance to this last sentence, Qaeen Indora’s extended arm pointed towards the masked individual who sat next to Amy Sutton, on the right hand of‘ tbe throne; and when that in- dividual took off his mask, he revealed the counte- nance of Wilson Stanhope. His countenance ex- preseed a species of terror as if the man himself entertained but a vague idea of how all theese pro- ceedings would terminate, and was therefore by no means assured that exposure to the whole world would not ensue and that condign punish- ment would not overtake himself. , ““ And now I will speak to you,” continued Queeg Indora, “of a darker crime than even those té which I have alluded,—a crime which, when de- signed. by you, was not altogether frustrated by circumstances —but which was eo far carried into effect that it struck a fellow-creature, though so¢ the one whom it was meant to strike: namely, myself! Prisoner, it was at your instigation that the assacsin-blow was dealt in the garden of my villa-residence : and here is a witness who can tes- tify to the discoufse which subsequently took place between yourself and the agent of your iniquity |” Thus speaking, Queen Indora made a sign for the female on her left hand, to remove the veil which covered her countenance; and when tbis was done, the Duke bebeld Mrs. Oxenden. He was not altogether without a suspicion that she indeed was the veiled female who sat in that place: but when the suspicion was turned into certainty, he felt a horrible tightening at the heart—for it seemed to him as if even those whom his gold had maintained in luxury, were arraying themecives against him. Thies idea is always a harrowing one for the individual who feels that the gruund is slipping away beneath his feet : be- cause.it is frightfully ominous of the crownipvg catastruphe. Thus the presence of Mrs. Oxendea (CO G OOO SS} (CO