The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 27: what you’re looking at

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

16 THEE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. (nnn ener nee eee whom he allowed, or rather compelled to reside at | Elisabeth should be removed from the care of Mra, the Park. She was in a bad etate of health—deeply | desponding—and with a mind painfully attenuated. Ie such a condition it was not a very difflcult task fon him to coerce her into a particular course of action: her reputation was in his hands—he could shatter her fair fame at any moment, as if it were brittle giass! He compelled her to write beck a. Burnaby and sent to a boarding-school.” “The better,” observed the Marquis of Eagiedean, “to enable Petersfield and Marston to work out their ulterior Bat prey ” “ My narrative is drawing towards an end,” said Mrs. Jameson. “A year afterwards my pour mis- | tress was on « visit to the Princess Sophia at St. particular style of answer to yourself; and be knew | James’s Palace. sore Peter aid Preside’ over the from what you had previously written, that it would | Princess’s household: and by his prove conclusive—for you had left iny dear mistress | ladyship was allowed to see her little Prank again to decide upon your fate. No reply came: or if you ever wrote again, the letters reached not my Eagledean. assumed name—and dwelt in retirement. “My lady's brother-in-law,” continued the house- keeper, “ appeared now to feel more assured of his own position: he no doubt concluded that all bensions which had arisen on your account, were fully disposed of. Time wore on—and her ladyship became more her own mistress: she was gradually relieved from the species of restraint which her brother-in-law had put upon hgr. Sometimes ahe went to stay with the Princess Sophia at 8t. James’s Palace: but generally she dwelt at the Park. She felt dull and lonely; and she invited Miss Dalrymple and Miss Villiers to stay with her. These two young ladies were cousins—they were orphans too, and totally upon distant relatives, whom they did not love. It was therefore a pleasure to them to experience the friendship of my poor mis- tress—while on the other hand it was a pleasure to her to have them with her. They became her bosom-friends, It was in the year 1833 that hee ladyship inquired of her brother Sir John Marston, whether any tidings had been heard of your lord- ship. The reply was in the negative: but doubtless Bir John informed Lord Everton——or Mr. Beerton as he all along ought to have been called ——that such an inquiry had been made. That bad man, naturally trembling lest his sister-in-law’s affection for your lordship was as strong as ever, and might lead to the revival of e between you, a visit soon afterwards to the Park, and dis- [ i played a letter which he purported to have reosived from some place on the Continent, and which letter contained an account of your lordship’s mar- riage.” se Alest we kao it wot ef the time: and the in- telligence,” continued Mrs. Jameson, “struck my pour mistress as with a death-blow. It destroyed a last hope which she had all oher- ished: namely, that you would etill return. She became dangerously ill: once more did delirium ecise upon her—and one evening in her ravings she betrayed her secret to Mies Dalrymple and Miss Villiers. But they were kind-hearted, generous- minded girls—the elder not more than twenty-one ierupemndreteinpainht brat hr at and they eoply sympathized with their friend and benefac- a As ahe got better, she a deep yearning to see her children ; and they were accord- tncly brought by Mrs. Burnaby to the Park. This was with the consent of her brother-in-law—but only on the condition that immediately afterwards About ten months after that, Mrs. Barnaby died. Then Lord Petersfield decided upon sending Frank to the same school at Southampton where bis sister Elizabeth had already been two years. Bat be- fore he was conducted thither, Lady Everton beg- been found and purchased for her use.” “ Yes—thoee villains,” exclaimed the Marquis of Eagiedean, “were all too giad to get her into quar- ters as remote as possible !’’ “It was at the close of the year 1834—some months after Mre. Burnaby’s death, and after that last interview with little Frank,—that her came down into Wales. She brought with her six of the oldest and most faithful domestics belonging to her household, in addition to myself. Arrange- ments were made with ber brother-in-law for the payment of her jointure through Messrs. Marlow and Malton, Solicitors of Parliament Street, West- minster.” “And they were doubtless instructed by the brother-in-law,” observed the Marquis, “ not to give her ladyship’s address to anybody.” “ My poor mistress herself,” continued the house- keeper, “‘ determined, on retiring from the world, to break off all correspondence with her former friends and acquaintances. She wished to separate herself as much as she could from the past, in order that the future years of her life might flow on as tran- (COL (C DOO CS (COL