The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 72: what you’re looking at

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

la et ot ee eT eee) —— =» . id : «ae THERE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. went on to say, speaking tremulously, “I should be bitterly irritated against myself. Tell me— have I offended you ?” “Wo, my lord,” she answered, but in accents that were scarcely audible—while the transient glance which she threw upon the young noble- man, conveyed the first revelation he had ever yet obtained in respect to the real feeling with which “Then if I have not offended you,” he said, “T may that I am not altogether indifferent to youP Ihave no fortune, Miss Armytage, to lay at your feet: but I have a loving and affec- tionate heart to offer you. Will you accept it P’— and he sank upon his knees before her. Zoe, with her countenance still averted, and - with the colour still coming and going rapidly upon her besuteous cheeks, made no verbal answer —but proffered him her hand. He took it, and conveyed it to his lips. But scarcely had those ps touched it, when she gently but firmly disen- gaged it; and rising from her seat, said in s low but clear voice, “ My lord, I must now refer you to my father Perhaps 1 ought to have done so in the first instance,” she added more gently still. Octavian had started up from his knees, smitten with the apprehension that he had been too bold in kissing the beautiful white hand which was proffered him, and that the young lady was offended : but he saw by her looks that it was not so. Her conduct was merely that of maiden dig- ‘unmingled with astonishment. interview with Mr. Armytage was thus at once 59 We denominate it extraordinary, because let the reader reflect how seldom it is in real life that where a parent has from selfish or sordid motives fixed upon a particular individual to become his son- in-law, the daughter’s own heart has the whole time been acquiescing in the choice. It was how- ever so on the present occasion; and though Miss Armytage was not of a disposition to abandon her- self to a feverish and unnatural excitement— though her mind was too strong and her tempera- ment too placid for such inordinate agitation—yet it would be wrong to imagine, and would indeed be stamping her as deficient in the softness of femi- nine feeling, if we were to say that her heart flut- tered not at all. It did palpitate with a con- siderable degree of suspense; but her emotions betrayed themselves not outwardly with much violence: yet it was not through any habitual dis- simulation nor studied hypocrisy that they were concealed. No—she was all guileless innocence and unsophisticated ingenuousness: but her dispo- sition, as already stated, was naturally calm—her feelings sank deep down and bubbled up but little to the surface—and they were the purer, the more genuine, and the more lasting on that very ac- count. She was not kept long in a state of uncertainty. In about half-an-hour the door opened, and Octa- vian hastened into her presence again, his counte- nance beaming with rapture and delight, not The result of his nity and of filial obedience; so that all in a/ proclaimed, even before a single syllable fell from ywoment she rose a thousand times higher in his estimation, if possible, than she had previously stood—highly as he had esteemed her before. his lips; and now Zoe no longer withdrew her hand when he sought to retain it—nor did she with a prudish affectation hold back her countenance “But I may tell Mr. Armytage,” he said, | from the kiss which her accepted lover imprinted gazing tenderly upon her, “that your consent is on her pure chaste forehead. already obtained, if his be vouchsafed ?” “It would be on my part, my lord, a ridiculous | affectation,” responded Zoe, in a voice that was tremulously clear; but yet she spoke with down- Octavian might well be astonished at the assent which he had received from Mr. Armytage: for notwithstanding the reasoning of the Duke of Marchmont, he had scarcely anticipated that a cast eyes and with a modest confusion bashfully |man whom he knew to be so worldly-minded as blending with her firmness,—“an affectation in- | Zoe’s father, would with a comparative readiness sulting, too, to the minds of both of us, were I to | afford his acquiescence to the suit of a portionless declare that you are an object of indifference to me. You have my consent, if you obtain m father’s. And think not, my lord, that I fail to appreciate the honour which you confer upon me —the perhaps too flattering compliment which you pay me——” “‘Zoe—dearest Zoe!” exclaimed Octavian, “never did you seem more charming in my eyes! never was your conduct more admirable than at this moment! If your father will consent to our union, Iswear that your happiness shall henceforth prove the study of my life!” Again he took her hand—again ho pressed it to lis lipe—and it was not withdrawn—but then he CeQyiiEn © 4 +t. e-eme-s eau==> Gia retained it only for a single instant; and bending upon the lovely blushing girl a look of tenderness, he issued from the room. The moment the door closed behind him, Zoe sank upon the sofa whence she had risen up,—murmuring to herself with a sensation of holy rapture, “He loves mo! he loves me ps2 Yee— Octavian Meredith had all along been the object of Zoe's secret anti hidden affection; and thus the designs of her father were, by an extraor- Ginary coincidence, forwarded by her own feelings. Gna i! yiptay lover. But then Mr. Armytage had given an affirmative response in that specious manner which he was so proficient in adopting. He had thrown out a hint to the effect that he had never sought for his daughter an alliance with mere rank, but had hoped that she would become the wife of some individual more in her own sphere. “ However,” he had gone on to observe, “ Zoe ig an only child; and I am too fondly devoted to her to thwart her happiness in a single respect. You say, my lord, that she loves you; and there- fore you have my concurrence. All my earthly aims are concentrated in the ensurance of my beloved Zoe's felicity. Without being considered guilty of too much paternal pride, I may safely aseert that I bestow upon you a veritable treasure. See that you treat her kindly, my lord: show me that you appreciate the precious gift which I now declare to be your’s: and I shall know how to ex- press my gratitude.” Lord Octavian made suitable acknowledgments ; and he was completely deceived by the specious language used by Mr. Armytage on this occasion —so that he thought to himself that Zoe’s father must in reality possess an excellent heart notwith- eS ae 86a (COL (C DOO CS (COL