The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 308: what you’re looking at

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

~erertedinipettlamabe th aiipaties Cie oudn tate, OS wate ae. tre dun wDentbnlee . P THE MYNTERIES OF THE COURT. which her sister experienced—that fair, bright, and innocent sister whose tears were moisteniug Clara’s heaving breast with their crystal purity ! “ And are you sure—very sure of all this, dear- est Clara?” inquired Louisa, again raising her head and bending upon her sister a countenance beaming with smiles of innocence and delight. “ But, Oh! yes—I see that you are confident, and I will not ask you to repeat your assurance {” “Rely upon what I say, dearest Louisa,” an- awered Clara. “If I were not thus confident upon the subject, I would not for a moment venture the assertion : if a doubt existed in my mind, I would rather have left you in the belief of your lover's infidelity, than encourage a hope which after all might tarn out to be delusive! Not only is your lover innocent, dearest Louisa—but he is one of the moet injured and persecuted of men in all that concerns his imprisonment in the Prefecture of Police, and one of the most virtuous and honorable of young men in all that regards his fidelity to- wards you and the temptations to which he has been subjected.” “© Jocelyn, Jocelyn! to think that I should have mistrusted thee so profoundly!—to think that I should have wronged thee so immensely |” raurmured Louisa, shaking her head in despair. ‘And yet heaven knows that the circumstantial evidence which told against thee, Jocelyn, was to all appearances crushing and overwhelming! For did not the Prefect himself assure me of dreadful things?—did I not behold with my own eyes a scene too well calculated to make me mistrust thee ?—-did I not even hear that female's voice prociaim her love for thee ?” “Ah! now, my dearest Louisa,” eaxclaime.. Clara, “you are torturing yourself with misyiv- ings, in spite of the certainties which I have breathed in your ears. It is true that Iam not acquainted with all the minute details of these matters to which you are alluding: but in general terms I can assure you that your lover is innocent —that he is even of the most rigid virtue—that his purity is incorruptible—and that whatever com- plexion circumstantial evidence may have been made to.assume against him, he will be enabled to clear up every thing !” -“* But one word more, Clara,” exclaimed Louisa: “one word more—and then farewell to all mis- givings! Is he really liviug under a false name ?” “Yee—that most assuredly he is,” exclaimed the elder sister; “and to his honour and credit is this very fact which has been made not only the cause of his arrest, bus also one of the grounds of his reproach. But I shall leave to Aim, Louisa, when the time comes, the duty of explaining to you wherefore he has assumed this name of Jocelyn Loftus and what his real name is. For I feel as- sured that these revelations will flow more sweetly upon your ears and sink down more deliciously into your heart, when coming from the lips of a lover, even than from those of a fond and affec. tionate sister. And now one word more relative to Jocelyn, as we must still continue to call him ” “Oh! what else have you to say upon this sub- ject?” asked Louisa with renewed suspense. “That in a short time—a very short time, I hope—he will be free,” returned Clara. “Indeed, J am convinced that he will svon be liberated: and yen eer 06“ 0-0 tee een ow 4 am eee eet © ee eGnenaengin 295 then, dear girl, he will no doubt rejoice to give you all those explanations which must trium- phantly prove his own innocence and dispel all the misgiviogs that still perhaps lurk in the depths of your soul ” “He will be free—O heavens! that there may be no disappointment or delay in the fulfilment of this hope !” exclaimed Louisa, once more clasping her hands and now gazing upward with a fervid enthusiasni, so that it was easy to perceive that in the depths of her soul she prayed to heaven to verify her sister's assurance. “Whatever I tell you, dearest Louisa, you may rely upon,” rejoined Clara, “And now that I have relieved you from so much anxiety and changed your sorrow into heartfelt joy, you must give me all the- particulars of what has occurred to you relative to that journey to Paris and this visit to London.” “1 will tell you everything, dear sister,” answered the young maiden. “ You are well aware, from the letters which I have so constantly written to you, that in the month of September Jocelyn brought Miss Mary Owen with him from London and de- sired that she might find a home at the cottage ” “ Yes—while he proceeded to the Continent,” said Clara, taking up the thread of her sister’s discourse, “in order to defeat certain machinations which had been devised against the Princess of Wales, and in which the Owen family was con- cerned. On all these points your letters were explicit enough.” “And I also told you,” continued Louisa, “that Jocelyn wrote to me a letter full of love and ten- derness from the French capital, stating how he had arrived there in due course aod how he had fallen in with Mary's three sisters at Calais whom he had escorted to Paris. I answered his welcome epistle ; and he wrote to me another as affectionate as the first. But that was the last letter which J received from him: and then his correspondence suddenly ceased. ‘This was at the end of Septem- ber.” “And throughout the month of October,’ ob- served Clara, “your letters to me were mournful indeed. You seemed to fancy that your lover had altogether abandoned you-—”" “No, no—dearest Clara,” exclaimed Louisa, blushing. “I did not then suspect his fidelity: but I was afraid—indeed, I was haunted with the idea, that some terrible calamity had overtaken him——” * Well, and did I not send you all the consola- tion in my power?” asked Clara: “did I not con- jure you to cherish hope add avoid despair?— although at the time heaven knows that I was utterly ignorant of what had really become of your lover |” - “Had it not been for your soothing and conso- latory letters,” said Louisa, “I should have become delirious with anguish, or else have been plunged into a blank despair. Well, in this manner did the month of October pass mournfully on: and just as it was drawing to a close, I received a letter, dated from Paris, and stating that it was of the highest consequence to me to repair thither with- out delay in order to learn certain calamitous truths relative to Jocelyn Loftus. That letter, which bore the signature of ‘An Unknown Friend,’ desired me to proceed at once to the British Con- aie (C E-EEEEEEE UEE e en ee enna eee ee cee I a TE a NOG) SS CO