The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 213: what you’re looking at

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202 brook’s conduct : but it was impossible to conjec- ture the motive thereof. On reaching London, the carriage put down Christian in Mortimer Street, Cavendish Square ; and thence proceeded with Christina to Queen In- dora’s villa at Bayswater. Eee CHAPTER CXXIV. UNCONSCIOUS HEVELATIONS. LEr us see what in the meantime hed been taking place at the Queen’s villa. Her Majesty—having seen Christina off in the e@triage, which was to take up her brother in Mortimer Street and bear the twins to the grand entertainment at Balbam Hill—returned to the chamber in which Isy the wounded Sagoonah. The ayah had for @ week continued perfectly unconscious of the attentions bestowed upon her; and though Indora had no doubt as to some mischievous design héving beet harboured by her Hindoo dependant, she relaxed not from those ministrations whick in the purest spirit of Christian goodness were bestowed. And there lay the guilty ayah, pillowed in 4 lnxgurious couch, with her queenly mistress watching every variation of her eountenance—applying a cooling beverage to her lips when they appeared to be dry with feverich thiret—and devoting as much sedu- lous eare to the wounded female as if she were a beloved sister whom Inoora was endeavouring to snatch from the grasp of death. . Seated upon a small ottoman by the side of fhat couch, Indora fell into a profound reverie, as she gazed upon the sleeping countenance of the ayah. “ And i¢ it possible, Sagoonab,” she thus in- wardly apostrophized the unconscious invalid—“ is it possible that you could have beén ealpable of do mouch dissimelation and of so much wickedness P Methought that you loved me—that you sincerely sympathized with the im all I myself felt and suf- fered at the time you agreed to accompany me from our far-off Indian bome to this western clime. But, ah ! you cherished a passion for him whom I alzo loved, and whom I shall ever love so tenderly and so well! I remember a while ago—one night when I was expecting him to call at the villa— that I spoke to you, Sagoonah, on the subject of love: I asked if you had ever loved—and I fancied that you were happy in your supposed ignorance of love’s pangs. But at that very time you loved him Ob ! you loved him !—and how you dis- sembled! Well, well, do I know, Sagoonah, that the human heart has no power over ite volition; and it cannot shield iteelf against the impressions or the images which by destiny’s decree are to affix themselves upon it. Nevertheless, Sagoonah, there are duties which in sach a case are to be per- formed ; and those duties were not performed by you! No—for you should have told me the truth, and I should not have blamed you I should have pitied you. Yes—you should have told me the truth ; and you should not have accompanied me from India. But you yielded to your own in- fatuation: you were selfish—you were egotistical ; and in thee’ I have been cherishing a reptile who sought to sting me, instead of a faithful dependant to soothe and comfort me. I gave you my confi- THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. dence, Sagoonah—TI told you all my love for him! At one time I explained my hopes—at another my fears: seldom did I conceal from you my inten- tions; and all the while you were a traitress and a rite |” Indora heaved a profound sigh as she reached this point in her musings; and so deeply were her feelings touched, that tears trickled down her cheeks. Her heart was generous—her soul mag- nanimous; ahd as she had embraced the Christian faith, so did she possess the purest Christain sym- pathies. Thus, even while musingly addressing het teptoseches té the unconscious Sagoonab, she felt inelined to pity Her as the victim of an infa- tiated and hopeless love. “ Ought I really to blawtse you thus FP” continued the Queen, still pensively spostrophizing the sleep- ing ayah; “or ought I not tather to look for as touch ext@irhation of your behalf as circumstances admit? For, Ob! 1 myself know what the power of love is~-what its impulses are—and how selfish it at times renders its votarics. My own life affords an illusteation: and it is the only deed on which I bavo to look back with sorrow. Yes—for it was [ who kept Aim eo long a prisoner in that far-off kingdom of Inderabad; and i¢ was cruel—it was eelfish—-it was unjust—it was barbarous, on my part! If I therefore have to retroapect with com- putnction tpon such @ deed as that, ought I not to be lenient in the judgment which I pass upon thee, Sagoonah ?” Here the Queen’s musings were suddenly inter- rupted by a restlese movement on Sagoonash’s pert: she tossed her arms aneasily, and turned her head upon the pillow, as if she suffered pain either phy- sically or mentally—perbaps in both ways. Tae Queen rose from her seat and hastened to quiet the invalid. She took Sagoonah’s hands in her own: she pressed them: then she passed one of her hands earessingly and soothingly over the emooth dushy-baed cheek of the ayah; and then she as- sured herself that the bandages of the healiog wound were not distarbed. hile thas tenderly ministering to her dependant, Queen Indora com- pletely lost sight of whatecever motives of dark misgiving and deep fesentment she had against the sleeping woman: it was only the invalid re- quiring all her attentions that she at the moment beheld. And if anything were wanting to afford a complete illustration of the admirable qualities of Indora’s character, this deficiency was now sup- plied by the unfeigned sincerity and unalloyed ten- dernees of her behaviour towards one who had proved her enemy. Sagoonsh appeared to have felt the soothing in- fluence of her kind mistress’s caresses, though mentally unconscious that they were bestowed; for she relapsed into a state of composure. The Queen was gently resuming her seat, when it struck her that some words were wavering upon Sagoonah’s lips. She stopped short, and listened. Yes: the ayah was murmuring something; and this was the firet time that a syllable had issued from those lips during the week which had now elapsed since the almost mortal wound was in- flicted. It was evident that Sagoonah’s conscious- ness was returning—and that as the lamp of life was regaining ite power, it was beginning to light up the images and impressions that were most strongly marked in the cells of Sagoonah’s brain. hypoc ElOOO as —_ Soa EE mms em ee ee ee ry ee eee (CO