The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 295: what you’re looking at

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

THE CLIFF oo gig woman’s most enduring tenderness. But let that pass; I would speak of other things. Do you suppose that I am a stranger to the vile outrage which you attempted upon Louisa Stanley the other night, and which has made you, dreading the consequences, absent yourself from home for a time and come to Dover, so that in case of danger you may be near the French coast? Ah! you perceive, Bernard Audley, that I understand full well your motives in coming hither.”’ ‘“« And what of that? ” asked the minor canon, impatiently. “‘ But go on, Lilian, for I warn you that my horse will not stand quietly here for many minutes longer.” “Nor will I detain you many minutes,” she rejoined, quickly. ‘‘ When you went to settle at Canterbury, some eighteen months ago, and took up your abode in that old house which had so recently been a lunatic asylum, and had still some of the rooms fitted up in such a manner as to deaden the shrieks and screams and howlings of those who were once confined therein, you are aware that I also came and settled in the same neighbourhood. You know, like- wise, that in consequence of all that occurred in years past, I had vowed never to appear again in the presence of any of my family; but at the time when all those terrible calamities occurred, or, rather, soon after the fearful ordeal of prisonage and trial through which I passed, I secretly made inquiries relative to my sisters. I learned that Melissa had died, leaving two children whose names were Clara and Louisa. Ah! you start, you begin to divine the truth? Well, anditis asyouthink. For not only did I discover that much, but I likewise ascertained that they had been taken by their aunt, my eldest sister, Lydia, and borne away from London, no one knew whither. Now, then, do you begin to understand how, when eighteen months ago circumstances brought me to Canterbury, I happened to learn that a lady having two nieces, whose names were Clara and Louisa, dwelt in a certain cottage under the name of Stanley, and how I was at once convinced that this lady was my sister and these damsels were Melissa’s children? Ah! it was this circum- stance which made me doubly watchful over Louisa’s welfare and safety when I found her the object of your unhallowed desires; and though I chose not to introduce | myself as a relative to that young maiden, I nevertheless (C(O) nn) GDoOo <Si in