The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 153: what you’re looking at

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

a a OD ee Sc se Ss Sa ieee al 146 THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. ‘sried, “Let it be as your intended husband that I t bestow upon me your hand, so that I may at once shall accompany you! Yes—let it be in that light! . acquire a legal and moral right to be the companion I already know you as well and love you as much as of your journey, and to remain with you fr ever if our acquaintance had been that of years instead | henoeforth—be it #0! It is for you to decide: but of hours. I entreat you-—” keep me not in a “My lord, rise—I beseech you, rise!” said the; ‘‘ What can I say to you? how can I resist these Baroness, appearing to be profoundly agitated; and | entreaties, so vehement—so passionate?’ mar- she did not withdraw the hand which Saxondale | mured the Baroness de Charlemont: and bending continued to press rapturously to his lips. forward, she drooped her bludhing countenance He did rise: and he stood by her side, as she upon the shoulder of him who was still kneeling remained seated. She looked up into his counte- | at her feet. nance with eyes that seemed full of tendernese: and Edmund threw his arms sbout her neck, and he observed that her bosom was swelling and heav-! strained her in his embrace. He covered her ing as if with the tumult of the feelings that ' cheeks with kisses: they were warm and glowing, worked within. The rose upon her cheeks had : those softly rounded cheeks ;—and from her lips, deepened into carnation: there was a moisture upon | too, did he cull the most exquisite sweets. her lips that made them seem richer and more; “ Rise, Edmund—riee,” she said, after a few mo- luscious than was even their natural wont: her | ments of this amorous play: “rise, I entreat you! whole appesrance breathed a saftly sensuous lan- , —the domestics may enter! But if you await my guor. Saxondale’s passions were excited almost to | decision, have it--—} will become your wife.” madness. Had Satan stood by his side and de-{; Again he pressed her in his arms: he would have manded the eventual transfer of his soul, in recom. | grown bolder than the mere taking of those warm pense for handing over to him the possession of this | kieses—but she gently though firmly aomgreet enchanting woman, he would have greedily assented | herself from his embrace ; and to the compact. The perfume of her beauty ap- | revesne his vest, sho eaid, * But tonmerrow parhape peared to arise around him like the overpowering you will repent of this offer you have made? you fragrance of flowers. The light streaming from _ will look beck with regret on what may appear the the chandelier suspended to ceiling, shed its | folly of your conduct P Friends may advise you——"’ lustre upon her head, i hair shine hkea; “ No—I shall consult them not,” interrupted weil of burnished gold upon her | Edmund vehemently. “Do you think that where polished shoulders and over : her com my happiness is at stake, I am not the best j plexion, save where the carnation hues were upon | of how to ensure it? Besides,” he added, “when I the eheeks, was white and pure as the lily, and ex- | return to the hotel presently, I shall see no one to quisitely diaphanous. Upon her brow was the or trouble me with questions; and in the delicate tracery of blue veins, scen through that morning I will rise very early—order my valet to pellucid skin. One hand, which hung drooping over peck up my things—and come hither at once straight the arm of the chair, seemed to be drinking into its , to you. May I be permitted to regard this arrange- pores of pearl the light that flooded the room: the | | ment as settled ?" other hand, which Saxondale held in his own, fele | * Yee—if you wish it to be so,” responded the i ae down. back R warm and tremulous in his clasp. More than a minute elapsed while she sat thus looking up at him with that softly voluptuous ex- pression,—and while he stood gazing down upon her, devouring with his regards that splendid coun- tenance, and suffering his wanton imagination to complete the rounded forms of the bust whereof some- what was exposed to the view. Yes—he could have sacrificed his very soul to possess this woman, #0 great was the empire which her charms had ob- tained over him in the short space of two or three hours. “You have made me a proposal,” she said, in a subdued and tremulous voice, “which, were I a young creature of six or eight years less than I am, and feeling towards you what I do, I should perhaps at once accept. But I do not thus precipitately bind you toa compact which you may perhaps repent to- morrow.” “Repent? No—never, never!” exclaimed Saxon- dale: and again he fell upon his knees at her feet. “Have I not told you that I am my own master ? Hear me, then, while I solemnly avow my affection towards you !—hear me while I proclaim once more that I already love you as if we had known each other for years! I offer to make you the sharer of my rank, and the partner of my fortune when on coming of are I shall inherit it. If upon these condi- tions you will suffer me to accompany you to London, where we can be united—or if to-morrow you w ill ——. aS = eww = Baroness, with downcast eyes and blushing coun- tenance: then after a pause, she went on to observe, “But our hands cannot be united here in Paris: nor indeed anywhere in France. I am a Protest- ant—es I believe you are; and nowhere save at the chapel of the British Embassy can a legal cere- mony be solemnised between us in this country. There, as you are known, you might meet with obstructions. We will without delay proceed to London———” And there can our hands be united at once !” ejaculated Edmund, enraptured at the idea of poe- sessing that splendid woman as his wife. “To-morrow morning, therefore,” she resumed, “will I have a travelling-carriage in readiness at eight o'clock. You will be here to breakfast with me soon after seven. Yodr own valet and my maid will alone accompany us. I shail leave a letter for my notary, directing him to dispose of my furniture and my equipages—dismiss my servante—and let my mansion. For believe me, dear Edmund, it will never be my wish to return to this Paris, of the heartlesanees and the depravity of whose fashionable sphere I am thoroughly sickened.” “You will do well to make up your mind thus,” responded the infatuated young nobleman: “ for when once my wife, you will become mistress of a mansion in London, as well as of a castle in Lin- colnshire; and proud shall I be to place you at the head of those establishments.” Qe CO IMULUG C) DOO —_—— CS (COL