The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 166: what you’re looking at

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Fd THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. without interruption : it was eccomplished—and the 4159 Baroness de Charlemont became Lady Saxondale.} valet stammered more and more, and likewise Thus all in an instant was the appellation of Dow- | became more and more confused,—“ it is my duty ager affixed to the title of that other Lady Saxon- | to tell your dale who was journeying with her daughter upon the Continent, and who little suspected what was going on in London at the time. lordship that——that——~” “That what ?”—and Saxondale felt as if he could strike his domestic a savage blow for thus tanta- lizing him. “ What is it your duty to tell me? Yes-——the ceremony was over; and, as usual, the | what have you learnt P” bride and bridegroom repaired to the vestry while the clergyman registered the marriage and farnished the proper certificate. The Baroness, who had been much excited by her apprehensions and other feel- ings throughout the morning, sat down,—Kdmund standing near, and bending over her to whisper words of love and tenderness in her ear. thus engaged, he caught sight—through the vestry ; door, which stood helf open-—of his valet, who was now loitering just outside the threshold. “Pardon my abeence for a few moments,” whis- pered Saxondale to his bride:—“I wish to give same instructions to my domestic. The servants generally, at the house, do not know what is taking place; and I will send him on st once to make the announcement—so that you may be spared some httle awkwardness and confusion on reaching Park The bride, by means of a tender and endearing look, expressed her gratitude for this consideration on her husband's part; and he stepped out of the vestry. Immediately on joining his valet, it struck Edmund that there was some peculiar in the man’s look; and if he did not feel exactly fright- ened, he nevertheless experienced a sudden sen- sation of suspense which was somewhat painful. “Why did you not mect me at the hotel, as I ordered you P’”” he asked, drawing the valet aside to a little distance from the open door of the vestry. “I quite mistook your > was the re- sponse. “I humbly ask pardon — —but I really thought your lordship’s instructions were that I wes to join your lordship in Park Lane after I had been to the hotel.” * No such thing !” promptly ejaculated the bride- groom. “ However, it was a mistake, and can't be helped. The ceremony is over: and——and—— he was about to say “I am the happiest of men :” but he could not get the words out of his lips, for he saw that his valet’s countenance was becoming still more peculiar in its e ion, and indeed was clouded with a depth of gloom: so he hurriedly asked, “ Well, have you anything to tell me?” “No, my lord—nothing——nothing ——no, nothing :”—and the valet stammered, look- ing at the same time so strange that Saxondale was seized with a vague and unknown terror, and might have been knocked down with a straw. “Yee—but I know that you Aave something to tell me,” he exclaimed nervously, but ma subdued tone. “Come—out with it! Have you been talk- ing to the maid ?” “Yes, my lord—a little. Your lordship com- manded me to do #0.” Why don’t you proceed P” demanded Edmund, his countenance white and his limbs trembling with apprehension. “ Now tell me —is there anything the matter ?P——I see there is |! have I made a fool of myself ?———don't you perceive that suspense is killing me? Speak, I say ” While | “That the Baroness——her ladyship——Lady Saxondale, that now is, I mean——” “Well, woll ?” ‘Was tried, my lord-——” “ Tried P” echoed Edmund : and his brain ap- peared to whirl. “Yes, my lord———I am very sorry to have such bad news—but her ladyship was tried ——She was | acquitted however P’”’ quickly ejaculated the valet, as if catching at this circumstance as a great conso- lation. “Tried and acquitted?’ repeated Saxondale, who felt as if the church was all spinning round and round. * Yea, my lord——unfortunately her ladyship was tried——” ** What for? what for?” “ The——the-———murder of her husband !” CHAPTER CXX. SAXONDALE CASTLE AGAIN. Ws must now transport the attention of our readers to Saxondale Castle. It was about eleven o’clock at night—four days after those incidents which occurred at the hotel at Beauvais—and Chiffin the Cannibal was smoking his pipe in the cloister leading out of the chapel. No candle was there ; for that would be dangerous, because calcu- lated to attract attention to the circumstance : but the night was transcendingly clear and beautiful, and the moon was pouring ite argentine lustre through the narrow arched windows of that cloister. The reader will remember that this place was de- ’ | scribed in the opening chapter of our narrative, as containing several tombs and monuments, and in the midst a colossal figure of black marble, representing a warrior in complete armour, with his visor closed. The moonbeams fell upon this giant-statue, at the foot of which Chiffin the Cannibal was seated. There it stood—that sculptured shape—its left hand. upon the hip—ite right arm extended as if menac- ingly pointed towards the door communicating with the ehapel, and which stood open. It wasa strange spectacle—had any one been there to view it,—that ferocious-looking ruffian seated on the pedestal which supported the colossal image that towered above him ; and as the silver lustre of the moon threw out this group of marble and man into strong relief, there was a singular blending of effects produced by the awe-imposing solemnity of the former and the savage grimness of the latter. Chiffin wore that same suit of respectable broad- cloth apparel which had been lent him by the land- lord of the boozing-ken in Bethnal Green. Some weeks had elapsed since the murder m Agar Town,—some weeks therefore since we beheld him a wandering fugitive, well-nigh goaded to despera- tion by the loss of the money of which Tony Wil- (COL (C DOO CS (COL