The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 371: what you’re looking at

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

_ culty (ss es enc pe nn 863 THE WYSTERIES OF THH COURT. ie site side of the apartment. Hastily wiping away her tears, Indora perused the letter : 1t was a some- what lengthy one; and its contents engaged her for upwards of ten minutes. - During this interval Christina occasionally glanced towards the two emissaries, whose pecu- liar costume she naturally had a eertain curiosity to examine,—when it gradually occurred to het that the younger messenger was exhibiting & vfs tain feeling of uneasiness. Af first ho, as well as his comrade, had remained seated with status-like immovability: but by degrees the younger one began to look aroundto give slight startse—to geom even as if he were shuddering and trembling —to sniff the air with his nostrile—and then tw fix his natttrally piercing eyes upon sonte cornet of the apaftment with an additional atid increasli# keenness, I¢ was evident also te Ohtistina that he strove to surmount whatsoever fodling thite moved him, but that is was gfadually growing | fail stronger than hitiself, Even his éoinpaiiict, the senior messenger, at length perceived it, arid bent a reproving look upon his comrade: thea the latter became motionless and rigid fo? atiothet tninuts or two—but at the expiration thetvofhe aguin yivided to that sense of nervous unedfiness which though eo visible, was yet uttetly thacevithtabls to our The Princess Indota finished the perusal of the letter; and fof a fow mifitites she fottiaitied ab- sorbed in the reflections which a édm#ittleation from her father might naturally be supposed to engender in he? mind. Theft the addressed a few words to the genior emissaty; dad hé Péeponded at some considerable length, as {f he were gifiug explanations in answer to a question pub “Thee faithful emissaries,” s4l€@ the Priticess, addressing herself to Christina, “eome, a you heard Sagoonah anttounce, froth my regal father. They left Inderabad thes inonthé back ; and they have tPavelled by thé overland route to this ¢ountry. Bruin Bombay they were aéeutipanied by ati Hag- lick ititerpreter, Whe services they thote Pte. cuted; and thus they have éxpertionesd fio diffi- tn the prosecution of their joufiiey, They only reached London this evening; ahd they beg me to excuse them for having tome hither at s¢ late an hour—but they judged that I should ba only too well satisfied to receive the earliest tidings from my beloved father. He is well; but he misses mo greatly. His letter is full of kindnese—and he urges me to return to miy native land with the least possible delay. I have been expecting some sueh summons as this——-—and yet the purpose which brought me to England, is mot as yet acoom- phshed! It cannet however be long,” osontinued Indora, in a musing strain rather than aétually ed« dressing herself to Christina ;—“no, it eannot be long ere my object shell be worked out, Heaven has already mided in placing me on the right track | The time, therefore, I feel confident is not far re- mote when I shall be enabled to obey my father’s summons; and it wes this idea, Christina, which mado me tell you yesterday that if I am econ coms pelled by cireumstances to leave England, you should not find yourself unprovided for.” Our herbie expressed her gratitude with a look fervently bent upon her high-born friend; and then the Princess resumed the conversation with the senior emissary. But by this time the un. | easiness of the junior one had risen into a sore trouble and agitation: he gathered up his legs completely under him on the ottoman—his slender wiry form appeared to be convulsel with spas- modié writhings—his eyes vibrated with a visible terrof—he sniffed the sir—the perspiration stood upon his dark bronsed brow. Indora now observed the éondition of the man; and stopping short in dotié femark which she was addressing to his sompaiiion, she gased upon him with bewildered Qdtutiishinént. He threw himself at her feet— lookdd shudderingly around—and then ejaculated something which had the instantaneous effect of making the Princess Indora herself start, as if ebruptly smitten with the infection of the man’s Gwh terror. Bub itistantaneously tecovering ber Bol fs oh, she smiled, and addressed him in Wofds the tones of which were evidently fraught with encouragement, as Christina herself could not li to comprehend. * You will be amused, my deat friend,” said the Prinecss, addressing herself in English to our hetvine, “ wheti I explain te you the reason of all this———the imoré so too, that the coincidence is stfaoge, afte? we Gtrselves have obly this very day visited a certaifi Place. Ovmpoee yourself, Chris- tind<—becausd you. knoW it is a9 itpossible as I have just beeB endeavouring to pebetade this mes- senger that it is——bué he expreseed hia belief— nay, ven his convittivs, that there ie & serpent of deadly nature withia these Walls.” Olitistina had fecoiled with sickfess and loath- ing from the dotitemplation of the reptiles in the Voological Gardens; ahd {$ was Ao affected sensa- tiotion her paft: But she Was not a silly, frivo- lows, woak-minded gitl to szield herself to terrors when her own soufid afd steady judgment gave hér everf teason to Belisve that there was no detual foundation fo? thet, Bhe therefore at once aid, “ Yes, it is imposible, my lady: for we have no fenomous reptiles i@ this dvuntey—oxcept the viper and adder, whose bites ate seldom if ever fatal; and at ail events, I have never read nor heard of one instanes of their introducing them- selvdé into houses,” Meanwhile thé ttembling messenger had risen fvom his kneeling posture; and slowly but keenly were his looks being plunged into every corner of the room. The senior messenger had started up in consternation when his comrade had ejacu- latingly atinouticed his contiction of the presenes of a serpent within those walls: but he was eome- what ehsefed and soothed by the assurances whiols the Prinvess hag given, although he still looked doubtingly upoh his Hindoo companion. “It ie at least atrange,” ssid the Princess, speaking more hastily than before to Ohristina } “ for this individual” (alluding to the janior mee denger) “ was originally one of the rhost celebrated snake-¢harmets in all India, unti for a paeticuler service rendered my royal father took him into his household and assigned him a confidential post. It is the peculiar instinct, if I may use the term, of some of thesé snake-charmerd that they ean actually tell when they are in the vicinage of that most deadly of reptiles, the cobra di capella Perbaps it is an exhalation from their slimy formes whieh impregnates the atmosphere, and whieh though imperceptible to those unacquainted with the peculiarities of that species of serpent, uw Se a aa COMMUC DOO CS (COL