The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 163: what you’re looking at

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

_ e+ —_—_—_——— — = or a cee ee ee ee 150 ° nis hand could wander freely over all its rich con- tours—and the cffect was the same as if from her person there exhaled a fragrance whick stole upon the senses with the influence ofa delicious inebria- tion. Oh! irresistible indeed was the power of that intoxicating perfume: and the image of Pau- line was as compietely drowned in the coup of am- brosia of which be was now drinking 809 deeply, as ever the memory of the bacchanalian reveller was stcened in the oblivion of the brimming bowl. And all this tine, shrouded in the same impe- netrable darkness which veiled the Unknown Lady from the eyes of her paramour, was Rao concealed iu the boudoir of love and mystery ! “Dearest Gabriel,” said the mistress of that voluptuous retreat, at length breaking a silence which had lasted for a considerable time, but dur- ing which the amorous dalliance had not ceased,— “dearest Gabriel, you know that I love you— otherwise I should not have sought this second interview with you. Tell me, Gabriel—do you think that I love you” “Yes, dearest lady—I am certain that you must have an affection for me,” responded the young nobleman, upon whose lips the ardour of her caresses yet seemed to glow and in whose veins the transfusion of her own impassioned feelings was yet burning. “ Jt is indeed true, my Gabriel, that I love you,” said the Unknown, in the deepest pathos, and most moving tones of her fluid voice: “and it is because I love you that I am anxious to afford you any proof of this affection—any proof, I mean, that lies within my power.” “ You are kind-hearted and generous, my sweet friend,” said Florimel: “but the only favour you can possibly show me is the disclosure of your name and the revelation of your countenance.” “ Not now—not now,” exclaimed the lady, lavish- ing upon her paramour the tenderest caresses as if for the purpose of coaxing him away from a topic which displeased her. “ But the time may not be far distant when E shail be enabled to place that amount of confidence in you, Gabriel——” “Ah! think not, my beautiful companion,” in- terrupted the young nobleman, “that I am influ- enced by any sentiment of idle curiosity. No: I should not have made the slightest allusion to the avowal of your name, had I reflected for another moment — because it is only your countenance which I wish revealed. Icare not who you may be: for Iam confident that you are handseme— splendidly handsome! Oh! such frenetic passions as these which burn in your bosom can only be associated with a loveliness well adapted to inspire the same in return f” “You shall gaze upon my countenance soon, Gabriel—you shall know who I am—you shall be- come the depositor of all my secrets in due time,” murmured the mysterious syren, as she pressed herself more closely to her noble paramour. “ But in the meantime tell me if there be anything which I can do to testify my love towards you and rivet your friendship—if it be impossible to win your love in return! Tell me, Gabriel, whether my fortune can serve you: for I am rich—very rich— and cheerfully would I place a large portion of my wealth at your disposal.” “ Generous-hearted friend—as liberal as you are leving,” said the young nobleman, straining her the ee THE MYSTERIES. more closely to his breast,—*I return you a thou- sand thanks for your proposals: but I have no need to avail myself of them. For I also am rich, as perhaps you are aware—indecd you must be, since you are more or less acquainted with me——” “Ab! my beloved Gabriel,” murmured the lady, in a tone trembling with emotion,—“I know that you are rich now; but is not your fortune me- naced?—is not your position threatened ?” Florimel started with a convulsive paroxysm as the lady breathed those questions in his ears: for who eould she possibly be, that she was thus inti- mate with his most private affairs?—who was she, that the important secrets of his present position were so fully known to her ? “ How learnt you these circumstances” he de- manded, after a long pause and in a voice which was ominously changed. “Do not question me upon that head, Gabriel,” said the lady. “Even were you to know who I am, you would not glean from such knowledge the source of my present information concerning the posture of your affairs. And if I have ere now al- luded to them, it is because I love you, Gabriel— because ‘I feel deeply, dceply interested in all that concerns you—and because I may perhaps be en- abled to render you a service in this matter.” “ Oh ! how mysterious art thou, incomprehensible being!” exclaimed the young nobleman: then, bend- ing his face down to her own, he covered the warm cheeks and the moist lips with devouring kisses. “Surely thou art some creaturo of a grade superior to that of ordinary mortals,” he murmured, in a tone of mingled compliment and gratitude: “ per- { haps some fairy who hath taken a fancy to so hum- ble an individual as myself?—perhaps some demi- goddess, desoended from your empyrean throne to teach the pleasures of paradise to an earthly lover ! Oh! my unknown charmer—my mysterious friend, —comprehensible in nothing save the transcendent witchery of thy seductiveness and the irresistible allurement of thy fascinations,—how wonderfully is my spirit drawn towards thee by gratitude—by ad- miration—by a sense of elysian enjoyment—almost by a feeling of love !” But as Florimel suffered these last words to fall rourmuringly from his lips, his heart smote him with a severe and poignant pang: for the image of Pauline was instantaneously conjured up to his mental view. And in order to fice away as it were from the deeply mournful looks of silent reproach which the image of that fair being appeared to be fixing upon him, the faithless Florimel wound his arms still more completely around the half-naked form of the Unknown Lady ;—and plunging as it were into the absorbing tide of the continuous and almost frenzied caresses which she now lavished upon him, he forgot Pauline—he forgot his vowa, his pledges, his grief at her late conduct, and all,— everything did ho forget, while abandoning himself to the transports of the present occasion ! “Thou art adorable, dearest lady,” murmured Florimel, after along pause. “Oh! promise me that we shall meet soon again! But wherefore shonld we separate at all? Surely you must be your own mistress as I am my own master,” con- tinued the young noble, hurried along by the infat- uation excited by all the influences which were now operating apoa bis susceptible nature,—the senseof ineffable enjoyment—the mystery which enveloped (COU (C DOO (CO