The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 30: what you’re looking at

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

Henne e eee reeeeeeeereeeeeee rere rece eee SSeS aes TRB WYeTERiIcs. his heivehip te the crews! He wae therefore eom- the worde that rose to hie lipe—and swallow the re- was a terrible, terrible humiliation for the frst gen- tleman in Enrope te endure! Ripped nang yaya Aastra be said, after a long pausa “The terms apon which you will surrender the papess—all the papers with- out reserve——" “ Thoss terms are easily distated,” iatesrapted the Amazon. “ In the first place, Mr. Meagies must be restored to his country and his friends.” “J will procure an order from the Minister to that effect,” said the Prince. “I would not trust the Government a whit more than I will you,” rejoined Lady Lade. “Bad Kings and Princes make bad Ministers—end such is now the case in this wretched country «Well Manglon chal be resteved;* said hie Royal Highness, again biting his lip to restrain the wrath that cost him such severe struggles to prevent it from boiling over. “ Meagles shall be restored, you say? Good! That is the first point. The second,” continued the Amason, “is that he be raised to the on the dsy of your marriage with Caroline of Brunswiek ; and that a pension of five thousand a-year be settled upon him at the same time.” “Letitia, you are mad!* exclaimed the Prince, now more amazed than even angry. “ Well—if you are afraid to ask your royal father for those boons,” said the huntress coolly, “I must repair to Windsor myself. It will not be the first time that I shall have demanded of hie Majesty a and a pension for some one on your behalf; not likely that the King will refuse my prayer.” «No—no—you need not visit Windsor a stcond time,” exclaimed the Prince. “ Come—TI assent to the second condition — a peerage and pension for Meagles on my wedding-day. And that is all, I hope?” “Yes—I have nothing more to stipulate,” an- swered the Amazon. “Bat I may as well inform your Royal Highness that the papers are noé about my person—nor are they accessible to you! Weil concealed are they now-—and well concealed will they remain, until the fulfilment of the conditions just laid down. You may employ braves to way- lay and murder me: but my death would not give you back your papers. Onthe contrary, they would fal] into the hands of persons less scrupulous than I —and } crime, your ruin would ensue. I give you this because I am fully aware that the idea of sleep has flashed through | i and she raust sink dewn beneath the intolerable load of her misfortane. A husband tern away from, a sickly, dying wife !— a father frem four children the eldest of whom was a warning, sending me to an eternal your brain more than once during the last quarter ofan hour. You will therefore now do eo at your peril.” Thus spesking, the Amasen turned away and moved towards the private deor—while his Reyal Highness, astounded at the fact of her having read his thoughts so easily, transfixed and with borror and “By the by,” she said, stepping short and leaking ever her shoulder, “ there must be a peried fixed for the fulfilment of the conditions just settled between wa The matter can’t go on for everlasting, you know. I euppose that poor Meagies has been harried of reaping any advantage from the | of t. off to America in a ship-of-wart The people of Eng- land have to suppest nevies in order that they may beseme imetruments of oppression against them~ selves! Ged’s curse will light upon sach a Government /” she added bitterly. “But that is not the point. Wewere talking of Meagles—and you will do: well to have a fast-sailing vessel sent after ham : for I aecord six weeks, and ne more, for the ful- fiiment of our terms. If that interval elapses without Fe ee em then will I pablish the pepecs arowe buntress quitted the royal apartment—leaving the Prince of Wales more humiliated, more disguated with bienself and all the world, and more disposed to abandon himeelf to despair than ever he had been before. Indeed, to tell the full truth, he was just in that humour when for a oup of the watersof oblivioa he would have sold his soul to Satan! CHAPTER CXXV. THE WORKING MAN'S WIFE AND CHILDRESS. Ap now we have another scene to relate, which oc- curred contemporasecously with those described in the two preceding chapters, and to which we must direct attention ere we can return to the Police-Office and resume the adventuses of Rose Foster. Vor while she was standing in the dock scon after twelve on this memorable dsy,-—and while the Amason was exhibiting the magnanimous heroism of her character to the Prince of Wales,—a sad and pitiable spectacle might have been seen in that gerret where the wife and children of Melmoth the Working Man were huddling together. Bat the working man himself was not there! The letter which he had written, and which was in the same style as that penned by Meagles, had been duly received by the unhappy weman, to whose heart it had appeared to carry the blight of death! For now did she feel herself widowed—aow did she look upon her ehildren as fatherless ;--and, in addition to this appalling misery, was the crushing idea that Ae—tho man whem she loved so fondly,—Ae, the husbaad of herself and the father of her children,—that he was Oh! an that poer woman pressed her babe to her breast and cast round her eyes upon the other three children who sat near her looking up isto her worn countemanes ae if sesking for consolation there, but (COU ( 5 DOOLK (CO