The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 184: what you’re looking at

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7 “"Tis eo far well. And now give me those two receipts,” said Arthar. The midwife rose from herchair: opened the book-case—drew forth the large voleme—aend took thence the two papers which the Honourable Arthur Eaton had demanded. “Tam afraid that your memory retains bat too well the particulars herein recited,” he said: “at all events it will be pradent to serve them thus.” And he threw the receipts into the fire, where they were consumed in a moment. “ Would to God I had never seen them—never had them in my possession at all!” exclaimed the midwife. “Oh! sir, how can I sufficiently thank you for your forbearance with to me !” “Be assured that henceforth I shall keep @ constant watch upon you, Mrs. Lindley,” an- swered the young man: “and that if you sin again, nothing shall prevent me from handing you over to the grasp of justice. But you have yet another answer to give me: for I must know whenco and how you obtained these receipts ?” ‘‘ From an old man named Lightfoot,” responded Mrs. Lindley. ‘I heard a few days ago that he was dead.” “ Now, then, our interview terminates,” said Mr. Eaton, rising from his chair. “ But before I take sy departure, let me again warn you to be cir- cumspect in your futare conduct. You have been dealt with by me in a mercifal manner : and if anything cau Icad you to repentance, it must be the startling conviction that your neck ia thus hamanely withdrawn by my hand from the halter into which you had thrust it. I would, however, much rather you should live to experience a sin- cere contrition, than that you should be hurried from tle world with all your iniquities upon your head. You have behaved like a ferocious and cold- blooded savage towards me—you were hurrying me to the tomb by means of your black artsa—and you were ministering to the fiendish vengeance of a guilty voung creature whom you should have counselled and guided in-a better path. Nine hundred and ninety-nine men out of a thousand, placed in my position, would have remorselessly handed you over to the officials of justice—aye, and would have even rejoiced to behold your qui- vering form suspended to the fatal beam. But I have spared you: and your secret is safe with me. Not a word calculated to injure you shall pass my lips : I will not deprive you of the means of earning your bread—for that would be only to force you back into the ways of crime, despite perhaps of the inclination which you may now cherish to re- pent sincerely and truly for the past. Prove, then, that you are deserving of this mercy at my hands, and adopt such a course of life, during the few years which remain to you, as will atone for those mis- deeds that unfortunately cannot be recalled. Farewell, Mrs. Lindley—and may this lesson be as salutary as it is terrible.” “ Heaven knows I never can forget your good- ness, nor cease to reflect upon the words which have just fallen from your lips,” murmured the nidwife in a suffocating tone. “‘God grant that the impression my be perma- nent,” said Eaton; and he hurriedly quitted the house, the atinosphere of which seemed painful for him to breathe. When he was gone, Mrs. Lindley threw herself back in hor arm-chair, and gave way to a long train of thoughts. Terror hed so sabdued and unnerved her chat, while the young man was in her and even for a considerable time after he had taken his departure, she was pro- foundly touched by the sense of her own abomina- ble wickedness and by his unparalleled genervsity. But as the effects of that tremendous fear gradu- ally subsided, her heart elapsed into its wonted callosity—even as the lava, which the volcano's raging fire, melts with liquid softness, hardens and cools down intoim rock. At the expiration of an hour from the time that Eaton left her, she fortified herself with a strong cordial; and then repairing to her own private chamber, she opened her strong box, and counted the piles of gold which she had amassed. Oh! how speedily—how completely are the better feelings of human nature crushed and hidden beneath the weight of riches: how easily does the smitten conrcience experience an anodyne in the ill-gotten wages of iniquity! Thus was it with this diabolical hag ;—and ere mid-day she chuckled over her gold—chuckied over hor impunity— chuckled over the narrow escape which she had that forenoon seen! Hours passed away—the shades of evening crept slowly upon the hemisphere—and soon after dusk a sharp and impatient knock was beard at the front-door. Mrs. Lindley hastened to answer the summons; and a lady, enveloped in a mantle and closely veiled, entered the The midwife said nothing: for she knew who the visitor was ;— and she led her immediately into the parlour, the door of which she closed carefully. The lady raised her veil and revealed the coun- tenance of Fernanda Aylmer,—that countenance which was still pale and colourleas, but which now wore an expression of firmness and decision. “You did not expect me so soon again, my dear Mrs. Lindley ?” said the young ladyas she seated herself near the blazing fire—for the weather was penetratingly cold without. ‘\T did not: but I knew you were there the in- stant that I opened the door,” responded the mid- . wife. ‘What has brought you hither this evening ?” ‘¢ You shall soon know,” answered the lady of angelic beauty and of demoniacheart. “ In a word, then, I have seen Arthur Eaton—aend Iam con- vinced that Dudley is playing us false.” “And yet it was he himself who announced to us, yesterday morning, that Mr. Eaton was gradu- ally—nay, almost rapid! y—recovering his health,” observed Mrs. Lindley. ‘‘How can yon recon- cile this fact with the idea that he is deceiving us ?” ‘‘ Listen to me patiently for a few moments,” re- turned Miss Aylmer. ‘‘ When you received that letter yesterday morning, in which Dudley in- formed you that his young master was, by some unaccountable means, triumphing over the poison nightly administerod to him in the water placed by his bed-side, Iasked you particularly if you thought the poison could in course of time lose its effects. You answered me emphatically in the negative. With this assurance in my mind, I could still per- ceive three distinct ways of accounting for the alteration in Arthur's outward appearance. Tlic t the near approach «f death was her- alded by S heotio glow on the checks which Dud- ley hadi mistaken for the returning hue of health: — | COMIC OOokKS.Conn