The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 135: what you’re looking at

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122 THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. and an allowance of money. I was also passer-by: he told me it was St. James’s Palace, well clothed; and thus far wanted for nothing. But and then hurriedly continued his way, thinking thas no kind word was ever spoken to me—no endeavour mine was the mere question of curiosity put by a was made to solace my young heart in the stranger in London. But he left me there, nailed | monotony of the life which I led. Well, the eight to the spot with astonishment. 8t. James’s Palace! years passed away; and when I reached the age of Was that lady who had embraced me so tenderly— sixteen, I was one morning told by the schoolmaster who had wept over me—and who did not answer that I was no longer to remain under his care, but me when I asked if she were my mother—was shea was to proceed to London. I asked him what were dwelleg in that palace? If so, must she not be con- the fature inten tiag of thoes invuable persons who nected with the Court ? and in my present pesition appeared to have control of my destiny? but | was it not probable that I should sooner or later he was either really ignorant upon the subject, or fallin with her? Oh! but if she were dead? I elso had his own private motives for refusing to burst into tears at the thought ; and perosiving that give me any information thereon. He wrote upon I had already become the object of attention on the @ piece of paper the name of an hotel where I was part of several persons in the street, I rushed rapidly to stop on my arrival in London; and giving me on. In order to convince myself that I was not money for my journey, hé bade me farewell. It was mistaken in respect to the identity of St. James's eight o’clock in the evening when I reached the me- | Palace with that building to which Mrs. Burnaby tropolis; and it was at Hatchett’s Hotel in Picca- had conducted me to see the beautiful lady whose dilly where, according to the instructions given, I | tearful countenance was always in my took up my quarters. On the following morning, ' mind, I approached the edifice and examined ite ex- just as I had concluded my breakfast, I received a terior narrowly. Yes— it was the same: there letter which had been left for me, and which came | could be no doubt of it! And it wasin that oo ama from a clerk in the Lord Steward’s office at Bucking- ham Palace. This letter informed me that the situation of Page-of-the-BHack-Stairs in the Royal Household was at my service. I was delighted. There seemed to be something grand in being one of the Queen’s Pages; and methought it would furnish the stepping-stone to a career in which I should be enabled by seal and good conduct to push my way | the to higher poste to eminence! With a palace, therefore, that on one occasiun I had seen her whom I believed to be my mother }” Francis Paton again paused through deeply stirred emotions: and Juliana, making him bend down towards her, lavished tender caresses upon his ex- quisitely handsome countenance. She then besought him to proceed; and he continued his narrative in ing manner :— : ‘ A fow weeks after the incident I have just men- —perhape beating heart and exultant spirits did I repair to | tioned, her Majesty the Queen held a levee at ‘St. the palace; but scarcely had I entered upon the | James's Palace. My duties called me thither; and duties of my situation, when I found that they were | I inwardly hoped that I should have an opportunity entirely of a menial character. I had hoped to be- | of still farther confirming my belief that it was come a Gentleman Page; bat I found myself cruelly | indeed there I had seen the lady of my story. Nor disappointed. Yet, what could I do? My means of | was I disappointed. I recognized the very corridor existence upon an absolute resignation to | in which Mrs. Burnaby had stopped to carry on her my lot: for if I threw up my post, to whom could | whispered conversation with the gentleman having I apply for employment ? I therefore made up my | the star upon his breast—or rather the nobleman ; cheerfulness mind to fulfil my destiny with as much es possible : but as I lay awake at nights [ could not help‘asking myself many questions, and suffering my imagination to wander in a bewildering maze of conjectures. Why had I been brought up genteelly, if only intended for a menial office ? wherefore had had I been educated with young gentlemen at a boarding-school and to believe myself a gentleman also, if no brighter lot than that of a tac- quey were in reserve for me? how was it that} my having in my earliest youth been fondled and carcesed by an elegant lady, the influence of her love, even though following me unperceived, had not saved fne from such a degradation as this ? These and a thousand other questéinns did I ask my- self: but no solution could I possibly find for them. Various circumstances however gradaally transpired to make me acquainted with new and still more be- wildering facts associated with my earlier years. On the very first occasion, after my installation at Buckingham Palace, that I had an opportunity of walking out to view the metropolis, I chanced to pass down St. James’s Street; and the moment I eaught a glimpee of the old red brick building at the bottom, I recognised it. Yee—though nine years | since I first beheld that old tower with had clapesed the huge clock-face, [ had never forgotten it. Still ignorant of what the building was, I inquired of a for such, since my acquaintance with courtly usages, I had found he must be, the star being the emblem of his aristocratic rank. And the room where I had seen the lady? Yes—I had no trouble in recog- nising that aleo: for there were the portraits of the Kings of England, with the crowns upon their heads and the sceptres in their hands! As I stood in that room surveying those and all other familiar objects, what a gush of memories swept through brain! what a tide of emotions surged up * my breast! Mothought that I still beheld that lacy with her beautiful countenance all bedewed in tears, seated on the eofa where I had once seen her, and where too I had sat upon her knees and been strained to her bosom ;—and for a few minutes I wae blinded with my weeping. Oh! if she were my mother? Why, why was I unacknowledged—and my sister also? Was it that wo were the children of shame? Alas, alas, poor mother |” ; Again did Francis Paton pause, well nigh over- come by his emotions; and Juliana, deeply touched by his tale, lavished upon him the tenderest caresses. She spoke soothingly to him—ehe eaid all she could think of to break down the artificial barrier which separated them and make him feel himself upon an equa! and familiar footing. The youth saw and ap- preciated these evidences of luve on her part, ead was profoundly moved thereby; so that it was with (CO DOO (CO