The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 92: what you’re looking at

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

74 THE COURT OF LONDON life one continuous incessant lie, for the sake of veiling this hideous secret which personally concerns me not. What, then, is to be done? I assuredly do not ever wish to be dragged into a revelation, nor yet be surprised into a be- trayal, of this tremendous secret. My only course is to leave St. James’s, to seek some other service, and by being thus removed from the presence of those whom this secret so nearly concerns, I may not be forced every day and every hour to find myself blushing or turning pale, and having to invent some falsehood as an excuse for my emotions. ‘‘ My mind, therefore, is madeup. I shall leave to-morrow. My child’s illness will serve as an excuse. The doctor said something to-day about the seaside. This, then, will serve to account for my sudden resolve, a resolve which is now unchangeable. “ Tf I write to you thus, addressing you by no name, it is that I cannot bring myself to pay even the most ordinary courtesy to one who... Here the letter abruptly broke off, but it was evident that, so much as there was of it, its contents had produced a deep impression upon Mrs. Arbuthnot’s mind. “What think you of: that document?’ asked Mrs. Bredalbane. “Before I offer a single comment,” responded Mrs. Arbuthnot, ‘‘ be pleased to finish your narrative,’’ and as she thus spoke, her manner was grave and her look serious to a degree. ‘“‘ T have but little more to say,’”’ continued the Honourable Mrs. Bredalbane. ‘‘ You may readily suppose that Joux, on perusing this letter, was strangely excited, and if, on the spur of the moment, he had deemed it prudent to abstain from declaring what he knew or producing the document, he was now more than ever confirmed in the adoption of that course. The inquest took place, and, as a matter of course, the evidence, such as it was, had been cooked up so as to have but one tendency, namely, to fix the stigma of self- destruction upon Sellis. A verdict was returned accordingly, and the unfortunate Italian was not only branded as a base, cowardly assassin, the midnight assailant of a kind and be- nevolent master, but also as a miserable suicide.”’ ‘‘ And what about Joux?”’ asked Mrs. Arbuthnot. ‘““He managed to keep himself out of the way at the COMicloooks (CO nn