The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 136: what you’re looking at

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surprising that such interest should have expanded and ripened into another feeling? Oh, sir!’ con- tinued Sagoonah enthusiastically, “my brain is stored with memories in respect to yourself !— memories which I have cherished and which I have fed upon as the most delicious of food! Ah, imagination transporte me back to the spacious halls and marble courte of Inderabad. I see my- self a girl of fifteen or sixteen, seated by the side of a fountain—and you epproach— you speak kindly to me—you tell me of the far-off land from which you came—this land where I now find my- sclf, and which at the time I so little dreams I should ever visit! And I see you walking as it were in all the pride and glory of your own civili- zation, amidst the comparative barbarism of that native clime of mine! I hear those around me speaking of wise and liberal measures ordained by the King: I hear your name mentioned with admiration—for full well is it known that from the suggestions of your wisdom do those measures emanate! Oh, I ama young girl again—I am roving through the gardens and the marble courts of Inderabad: I already love you—my admiring looks follow you, though you perceive them not: I look up to you as asuperior being that has come down amidst the immeasurable inferiority of that people to whom I belong |” It was with a strange and wild exaltation that Sagoonah spoke—an exaltation fervid, glowing, and rapturous; and if Mr. Redcliffe had eyes and a heart to be smitten with the grand spectacle of that Hindoo woman’s darkly id beauty, he could not have failed to be stricken then! The supernal lustre of her eyes shed a halo of animation upon her countenance: her supple, willowy form yielded in eloquent gestures and graceful attitudes to the varying tenour of her discourse: the quick heavinge of her bosom gave visible undulations to the snow-white drapery which covered it: while her arms, bare to the shoulders —so admirably modelled though of dusky skin—played their part with a grace all natural and unstudied in those gesticulations which gave such force to her lan- guage, half pathetic, half passionate. “Sagoonab,” seid Mr. Redcliffe, ‘I ought not to have tarried to listen to such discourse as this; and if you were an Englishwoman, our interview would have been cut short almost at the instant it commenced —— or perhaps, I should rather say that it would not have been granted atall! But once more I conjure you to listen to me attentively. Kither you mean that I am to prove faithless to the vow I have plighted to your mistress, and re- ceive yourself as a wife ?—or else you intend me to remain faithful to that plight in some sense, but to abandon myself to the temptation of an illicit love with you? Ineither case you are acting most im- properly: you are outraging the loftiness of that very female dignity of which you ere now spoke: you are behaving ungratefully to the mistress who has ever been so kind and indulgent towards you. Do you not comprehend me, Sagoonah? Will you not promise that you will stifle this infatuation which you have been cherishing, and that never more henceforth will you address me in such terms? You see that I do not reproach you: I speak kindly to you———and surely, surely your better feel- ings must be touched—your good sense must make you aware of the truth of all I am telling you ?” ee a ee THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. 125 “T£ you possess an enchanter’s power,” re- sponded Sagoonab, “ give me back my freedom of the heart—release me from the spells with which you have enthralled me—pluck out from my brain all the memories of the past—tear away from my soul that image which has become as it were in- terwoven with my own existence! If you can do all this, Mr. Redcliffe, then indeed may we sepa- rate at once, and I may faithfully promise never more to address you in the language which I have been holding! Ob, think not that I am unaware of the desperate—the well nigh hopeless condition in which I am placed with regard to you! But my feelings are stronger than myeelf; and I have no more power to crush this love of mine than you have to bid it be crushed. Is it not therefore vain to talk to me of duties and propricties? is it not useless to remind me of the kind indulgence of a good mistress—aye, and all the more so,” she added, in a voice which saddenly became low, and which had a deeper meaning in it than Mr. Red- cliffe could fathom at the time,—“ aye, and all the more so inasmuch as I feel that I have sinned against her too deeply to leave. room for repen- tance !”” “ But, Sagoonab,” said Mr. Redeliffe, now adopting a sterner look and a more peremptory tone, “it is absolutely necessary that you should exercise a becoming control over your feelings. I do not love you—I cannot love you! What- soever influence you may hope, think, or seck to exercise over me, would only be a tyranny against which I should rebel; and I do not wish to speak too harshly—but still I must add that if it went too far I should punish it! Your good senso must tell you that were I to breathe in the ear of your mistress a single syllable of all that has now taken place, she would not retain you in her ser- vice. Be reasonable therefore ” “‘Be reasonable?” echoed Sagoonah, her eves flashing fire, and her entire form writhing as if with the sense of an insult. “Who are you that bid the flames which you have excited suddenly quench themselves? Can you command tho voloano to cease its heavings and be still? How then think you that you can exercise such a power over the human heartP No, Clement Redcliffe! it is you who are most unreasonable. Iam but a poor weak woman—you are a strong man; and it is you who are playing the tyrant towards me/ You ere now asked me what my purpose was and what my hope is? Listen—— No, do not interrupt me! I insist upon speaking in my turn—and it is my tarp now! Since I left Inderabad, I have learned much of the world—I have looked upon it in a new light—I have studied it—I know it. Well aware am I of the immea- surable distance which exists between myself and you—of the great gulf which social distinctions have established between us. Think not, tiere- fore, that I seek to become your wife! No—but I will become your slave; and to be your slave, is to be your mistress—the toy with whom you may play—the object that may gratify a paseing phan. tasy. But you must renounce the vow which you have pledged to Indora-—” “ Sagoonah!” ejaculated Mr. Redoliffe angrily. “ Listen—listen |!” cried the Hindoo woman vehemently: and she stamped her foot with ex- citement. “You shall hear me to the end! I COUMIUC NOOK (CO