The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 274: what you’re looking at

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

Ae SN a a ca ge ee SO ST EPS mR I a STP, PR eT ET PTE nmr Emra rR RD Pc ry Pc ES THS- MIGETSAIRE OP FAR COURT, letter, was satisfactory even beyond her hopes, there was 80: and she awaited in confidence the arival of letters from that noblemen in due coursa But. before any came, she. received another communi- catien from Don . Christoval, in answer to her own. It was to the effect that he himself pos- sessed not the slightest interest. with the. Ministers then in power, their polities and iis being at ex- treme variance: otherwise he would have before volunteered to exert himesif in those quarters. He gave Kate to understand that if he were thus to take up her cause, such a.step would only pre- judice it and lead to a.certein refusal It was therefore useless for him to make the attempt: while on the other hand, it was of the highest consequence that he should remain st Barcelone in order to prevent the Captain-General from Signing the warrant: of execution until the fuil period of respite which he was enabled to grant, should have. clapsed. The Count‘s: letter, which was penned in a strain of true brotherly sym- pathy, coneluded by ing’ such. hepe as he dared hold out, and. proffermg such condolence as it was proper for him to express.. A. few days afterwards, Kate received letters from Paris. One was from the Marquis of Ville- belle, couched in.the kindest terma, and enclosing a note of the mest urgent entreaty to the Minis- ter of the Interior, beseeching that the boon solieat should be from Conatanee, the Marchioness whieh the bearer thereof The other bettor Ww might was must call neither herself ner her ‘husband would ever forget the services they had peceived at her hands when at Dover, aad the sincerest sympathy. This letter alo contained an enclosure ; it was ad- dressed tothe wife of the Minister of the Interior, beaseching this lady to eepouse the cause of Miss Marshall and to use her influence with her husband to procure the gram of the hom. which would be Both these letters—we mean that of the. is to the Minister, and that of the Mar- chieness to the Minister’s: wife—were written in English ; thus proving that those for whom they wera intended, were conversam with that language, —and. also serving to comvinec Kate (they bemg left unsealed for her perusal) that the cause which she had at heart was espoused in no lukewarm marner by the generous friends whoesp interest sho had thus secused. Miss Marahall arrayed heeself in the handsomest garb.ahe had brought with her from.Eagland; and indeed she looked’ uncommonly. handsome. Her fine shape, rieh in its modelled but well-adjusted proportions, was set off to the best advantage: while the flutter of hope and sent up & carnation hue to her cheeka When her toilet. was conspleted, she repaired in a hired vehicle to the private residence of the Minister. of the Interior,— lady informing her thas it was the best hour for waiting upon that functionary. On arriving at the Minister's house, Miss Marshall was conducted to & weating-room, where some half-dezen. other per- 267 sons desirous te sec the great man, were seated ; and each of these was summoned in turn to the recoption-apartment. At langth Kate found horaelf .| alone inthe. waiting-room ; and her heart palpitated:. with still more anxious flutterings than hitherto, as she said to herself that the next time.the door. opened, it weuld be to admit the usher wi wan te summon: her. into the. presence of him who with a breath could restore her to perfect happiness or plunge her into the deepest:abyam of.woe. Half- an-hour. winle she thus. remained along; and.it appeared to her. the longest half-hour she had ever passed in her life. But at length the door opened—the usher made his a was conducted across a specious landing—a door was thrown open—end sie entered a large and splendidly furniahed cabinet, where the Minister of the Interior was nagligently lounging in a large arm-chair, and a searetary sat writing, at a desk. When a. person is about.to enter for the first time into the presence of a celebrated or hi placed individual, the imagination invariably de- picts. to itself seme portraiture as the.ideal of such individnal’s appearauee; and with the posscasor of Ministerial functions, is- generally associated the idea of at.least a mature age, if not an advanced ome. Thus was id that Kate Marshall had fancied she was about to behold an elderly or am old man, with gray hair—a calm aad dignified . expression of eountenance—and sedate manners, with a cartain degree of awe-inspiring reserve. The portraiture she had thus in imagination drawn, was not justified‘in any one single point by the actual reality. The Minister of the Interior was @ young. man, searcaly thirty yeara of. age—- with a profusion of raven black. hair—a glossy moustache, and well curled whiskers. His features were reguian—his countenance pale, with a slight tinge of sallownens: his eyes were dark and full of they .to be set, daneted either the wear and tear of close application. to busimess, or. else the workings. af passions. combined with habits of dissi . He waa of slight figure— short of stature, but well made. His looks hada certain vivid keenness: his glances were of pene- trating sharpness, as if he sought to pierce through and through the soul of any.ene acoosting him, He was dressed in deép black—but with a cextain air pretensio n. We may here as well observe thatthe Minister was one of those umscrupuleus and ambitious po- litical adventurers, who, taking advantage of the disturbed state of Spanish politics, and attaching themselves to the faction. which was then domi- nant, had suddenly arisen from comparative ob>- scurity into pewer and importance. Only a year had elapsed since the storm of msurrections, sweep- ing over Spain, hed terminated in the abdication of the Hegency by tho [bara'manded and meg- : adherents of Queen Christina, was now rampant. Men of unscrupulous dispositions were required as the chief political agents of this revived despotism 5 and the‘ present Mimister of the Interior was one of these. He had bean ths editor of a journal noted for its: violent. animosity to Ispartero: ab the beginning of the insurrection he had done his (COL (C DOO CS (COL