The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 190: what you’re looking at

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

THE MYSTERIES, 17% | breathes not a human being who, at least to my , knowledge, is now suffering from the effects of that | poison,” responded Mrs. Lindley, emphatically. | “°Tis so far well. And now give me those two . receipts,” said Arthur. | ‘The midwife rose from her chair:—opened the . book-ease—drew forth the large volume—and took ‘thence the two papers which the Honourable Ar- ' thur Eaton had demanded. “I am afraid that your memory retains but too well the particulars herein recited,” he said: “at all events it will be prudent to serve them thus.” And he threw the receipts into the fire, where . they were consumed in a moment. 1 Would to God I had never seen them—never ' had them in my possession at all!” exclaimed the . midwife. “Oh! sir, how can I sufficiently thank | you for your forbearance with regard to me!” | “Beassured that henceforth I shall keep a con- | stant watch upon you, Mrs. Lindley,” answered tha | young man: “ and thatif you sin again, nothing | shall prevent me from handing you over to the | grasp of justice. But you have yet another answer ' to give me: for I must know whence and how you | obtained these receipts ?” “From an old man named Lightfoot,” responded Mrs, Lindley. “Iheard a few days ago that he was dead.” “Now, then, our interview terminates,” said Mr. : Baton, rising from his chair. “But before I take | my departure, let me again warn you to be cir- camspect in your future conduct. You have been dealt with by me in a merciful manner: and if anything can lead you to repentance, it must be the startling conviction that your neck is thus humanely withdrawn by my hand from the halter into which you had thrust it. I would, however, much rather you should live to experience a sin- cere contrition, than that you should be hurried from the world with all your iniquities upon your head. You have behaved like a ferocious and cold- blooded savage towards me—you were hurrying me to the tomb by means of your black arts—and you were ministering to the fiendish vengeance of | & guilty young creature whom you should have counselled and guided into a better path. Nine hundred and ninety-nine men out of a thousand, placed in my position, would have remorselessly i handed you over to the officials of justice—aye, 1 and would have even rejoiced to behold your qui- | Vering form suspended to the fatal beam. But I have spared you: and your secret is safe with me. Not a word calculated to injure you shall pass my | lips: I will not deprive you of the means of earning ‘your bread—for that would be only to force you | back into the ways of crime, despite perhaps of | the inclination which you may now cherish to re- | pent sincerely and truly for the past. Prove, then, that you are deserving of this mercy at my hands— and adopt such a course of life, during the few years | which remain to you, as will atone for those mis- ideeds that unfortanately cannot be_ recalled. ‘ Farewell, Mrs. Lindley—and may this lesson be as salutary aa it is terrible.” | “ Heaven knows I never can forget your good- ness, nor cease to reflect upon the words which | have just fallen from your lips,’ murmured the midwife, in a suffocating tone. “God grant that the impression may be perma- nent,” said Eaton ;—and he hurriedly quitted the t house, the atmosphere of which seemed painful for him to breathe. When he was gone, Mrs. Lindley threw herselt back in her arm-chair and gave way to a long train of thoughts. Terror had so subdued and unnerved her that, while the young man was in her presence, and even for a considerable time after he had taken his departure, she was pro- foundly touched by the sense of her own abomina- ble wickedness and by his unparalleled generosity. But as the effects of that tremendous fear gradu- ally subsided, her heart elapsed into its wonted callosity—even as the lava, which the volcano’s raging fire melts into liquid softness, hardens and cools down into impenetrable rock. At the expiration of an hour from the time that Eaton left her, she fortified herself with a strong cordial; and then repairing to her own private chamber, she opened her strong box, and counted the piles of gold which she had amassed. Oh! how speedily—how completely are the better feel- ings of human nature crushed and hidden beneath the weight of riches: how easily does the smitten conscience experience an anodyne in the ill-gotten wages of iniquity! Thus was it with this diaboli- cal hag :—and ere mid-day she chuckled over her gold—chuckled over her impunity—chuckled over the narrow escape which she had that forenoon seen ! Hours passed away—the shades of evening orept slowly upon the hemisphere—and soon after dusk asharp and impatient knock was heard at the front-door. Mrs, Lindley hastened to answer the summons ; and a lady, enveloped in a mantle and closely veiled, entered the passage. The midwife said nothing: for she knew who the visitor was ;—and she led her immediately into the parlour, the door of which she closed carefully. The lady raised her veil and revealed the coun- tenance of Fernanda Aylmer,—that countenance which was still pale and colourless, but which now wore an expression of firmness and decision. “You did not expect me so soon again, my dear Mrs. Lindley ?” said the young lady, as she seated herself near the blazing fire—for the weather was penetratingly cold without. “JT did not: but I knew who you were the instant that I opened the door,” responded the midwife. “ What has brought you hither this evening?” “You shall soon know,” answered the lady of angelic beauty and of demoniac heart. “In a word, then, I have seen Arthur Eaton—and I am con- vinced that Dudley is playing us false.” * And yet it was he himself who announced to us, yesterday morning, that Mr. Eaton was gradu- ally—nay, almost rapidly—recovering his health,” observed Mrs. Lindley. “How can you reconcile this fact with the idea that he is deceiving us?” “* Listen to me patiently for afew moments,” re- turned Miss Aylmer. “ When you received that letter yesterday morning, in which Dudley in- formed you that his young master was, by some unaccountable means, triumphing over the poison nightly administered to him in the water placed by his bed-side, I asked you particularly if you thought the poison could in course of time lose its effects. You answered me as emphatically in the negative. With this assurance in my mind, I could still per- ceive three distinct ways of accounting for the COMGLOO COMM S