The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 88: what you’re looking at

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L | TRE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. a fee throbbing brows: then opening her eyes again, she gave vent to a piercing shrick as she beheld the Minor Canon standing before her. | “ Silly maiden, what a foolish course have you pursued !” said the Reverend Bernard Audley, adopting his most soothing tone and conciliating mmanner—for by Louisa’s flight the affair had taken a turn which he had little anticipated and which to a certain degree had deranged his plans. She did not however hear the words which he had just addressed to her. Overcome wich terror and dismay at finding herself once more, as she feared, in the hands of her persecutor, she had sunk against the ~ pillar to which she was now clinging for support: and although she fainted not, nor fell senseless—yet was there a confusion in Der thoughts and a hurry in her brain that subdyed the natural working of her faculties and made her feel as if she were under tho influence of a strange and incomprehensible dream. We will here pause for a moment to give a few necessary cxplanations relative to the conduct and intentions of the Minor Canon. He had bribed certain gipsies to carry off Louisa; and he had ordered them to manage the abduction in such a manner that she might not know to whose house she was taken, nor in what part of Canterbury it was situated. Hence the circuitous route followed by the vehicle on the preceding evening. When once safe in his hands, the infamous parson scrupled not how he should behave towards her; and in his housekeeper, who was known as Mrs. Dorothy, he had a willing instrument and eflicient auxiliary. The wine and the malt liquour which accumpanied the dinner-tray that was carried up to Louisa’s roow, were both drugged: but fortu- nately the young lady partook of nothing at the time. ‘The coffee served up to her at tea-time, was also drugged: but again she escaped the snare by declining any refreshment. The third experi- meut was made with the Wine and the malt liquor which were placed upon the supper-tray: aud Mrs. Dorothy reported to her master that “she felt sure the young girl weuld take either a glass of wine or ale, as she was now evidently worn out and thoroughly exhausted.” In this hopo was it that the supper-thivgs had becn left in the baize- chamber: but we have seon that Louisa only par- touk of a draught of the spring-water, which it was impossible to drug. The Minor Canon, how- ever, ralied upon his housekeeper’s assurance, and satc up with the intention of waiting until the drugged liquor should have taken the hoped-for effect upon the maiden. He accordingly sate up, inflaming his imagination with wino and with some voluptuous romance, until his passions became ungovernable. He then ascended to the baize- chamber, in the expectation of beholding his victim stretched upon the couch in a profound lothargy;—aud it was when about to mount the staira that he had given utterance to the words which had fallen so ominously on Louisa’s ears and subsequently struck her with so dubious a meaning. But his rage on reaching the room and beholding the evidences of her escape, may de better ima- gined than described: and his terror was even greater than his fury, Yes—his alarm was more poiguant than his dis- appointment. For had he succeeded in making himself the master of her person when under the > 5 influence ofa narcotic, he would have had her trans- ported back to her own cottage-garden ere day- break, and while still steepéd in lethargy. She would then have remained in ignorance whither she had been taken, and who was the author of the outrage. If her suspicions fell upon him, his cha. racter fur sanctity and excellent reputation would at once give the lie to the imputation ;—and his housekeeper, to avoid being recognised by the young lady, might easily visit London, or go else- where for a short time. Sach was the plan which the Reverend Bernard Audley had deeply meditated—darkly resolved— and confidently hoped to carry out successfully. But Louisa’s flight not only upset all his calcula- tions and baffled his sensual hopes, but suddenly defeated all his precautions, and raised up a thou- sand dangers around him. For, of course, she had discovered, or must eventually discover, from whose house it was that she had thus fled: and to be en- abled to speak with certainty on the point, and give circumstantial dctails of the mode of her flight and the exact route taken, would inevitably establish the truthof her tale beyond all possibility of contradiction. Such were the refiections which swept through the mind of the Reverend Bernard Audiey as he hastened in pursuit of the fugitive maiden. The door of the loft being left open, convinced him that she must have descended the stairs; and the door leading into the yard being alap wide open, furnished another clue to her progrees. That she had entered the crypt was the next idea that struck him; and thither he accord- ingly followed her, with the success which has alrcady been described. “ Silly maiden—what a foolish course you have pur- sued !” were the words which he addressed to her in a conciliatory tone: but she heard them not, and only gazed on him with mingled wildncss and vacancy as she clung to the pillar. The dim light of the lamp revealed to his eyes the marble pallor of her lovely countenance—while hig own features were alike flushed with drinking and agitated with evil paasions. “ Maiden, do you hear me?’ he said, grasping her wrist. “ Unhand me, sir!” she cried, dow saddenly startled by that touch into a full recollection of ali that had occurred and an acute sense of her present position. “ Louisa, Louisa,” exclaimed the Reverend Bernard Audley, “‘ I beseech you to hear—and to forgive me,” he added, with a tone and manner of well-assumed meekness. .‘* You have no donbt behaved very wickedly to- wards me, sir,” replied the maiden: “ but if you sin- cerely and earnestly express your contrition ——” « By heaven! I regret what I have done,” he ex- claimed ; “and you must attribute it to that boundless affection with which you have inspired me. Come— return with me into my house—I promise you honour- able and safe escort om my part to the front door———” ° “ No, sir—no!” ejaculated Louisa, a sudden presen- timent inspiring her with the dread that he was de- ceiving her: then, as the deepening flush upon his cheeks and the confusion of his looks at once ratified the suspicion, she said, “I will remain here until the morning—and if you dare to harm me, I will send forth such piercing cries as shall arouse the whole neighbourhood.” _ ae COMuicooOolkxs.conrn