The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 229: what you’re looking at

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Se. ee TO? .>=ees=s—=—~>—”"0',0”0 ee 214 THE MYSTERIES. same young person of whom Mrs. Brace had spoken to him on that morning when she received him in her bed-chamber, and when he so nearly surrendered to the attractions of her matured and voluptuous charms. Casting upon Miss Morton another look of deep and tender interest, Florimel opened the note, which contained only these words :— “ What think you, my dear friend, of the bearer of this? You are a naughty manfor not coming to see me. Pray explain this absence of several days—not by letter, but in person. I shall expect you to sup with me on any evening you may choose to appoint; and if it be agreeable to you, Ican promise that the bearer, Miss Camilla Morton, shall be of the party. All you need now say to her is that you will attend to the note.” For a moment acloud passed over Lord Florimel’s countenance, as the thought swept across his imagi- nation that Mrs. Brace was determined to throw temptation in his way and seduce him from the al- legiance and fidelity which he had sworn to the lovely Pauline: but when he again fixed his eyes upon the charming girl who stood bashfully waiting his answer to the billet, he had not the moral courage to deliver an unfavourable response. He accordingly said, “Tell your kind mistress, that I will give my early attention to her letter.” Camilla thanked his lordship and retired, followed by the looks of the young and noble voluptuary, who was enraptured by the elegance of the retreating figure which his eyes thus devoured, and ravished by the glimpse which he caught of a foot and ankle of the most enchanting shape. But just at the moment when Miss Morton was descending the steps of the front-door, two young ladies—beautifully dressed, extremely handsome, and evidently sisters— who happened to be passing, stopped short; and one of them, exclaiming to the other, “That is Gabriel’s house!” fixed a searching look upon Camilla. The young girl, though utterly unconscious of having done anything wrong, nevertheless blushed up to the very forehead on finding herself the object of this unaccountable scrutiny ;—and the lady from whose lips the ejaculation had burst and who was thus intently regarding her, said in a somewhat imperious tone, ‘I presume, Miss, that you have been to see Lord Florimel ?” Camilla was so confused that she could make no reply; and the blush upon her cheeks deepened into the liveliest crimson. “Oh! I comprehend it all!” exclaimed the young lady, drawing herself up with a superb dignity, while the glow of wounded pride flushed her magnificent countenance: then turning to her sister, she said, “Come, Octavia—let us continue our walk.” And as the two ladies passed on together, Camilla hurried into the vehicle, whence Mrs. Brace had ob- served all that had just occurred. The hackney-coach proceeded towards Pall Mall; and the milliner, after receiving the message which Lord Florimel had sent her, and at which she was secretly delighted, said, “Those two ladies behaved very rudely to you, my love: but it was evidently some misapprehension on their part.” “T am afraid that I did wrong in venturing alone into the presence of that nobleman,” observed Miss Morton, the tears streaming down her cheeks, as she smarted under the indignity which she had expe- rienced at the hands of the two ladies. “ What could they mean ?—why did they regard me so in- | tently ?—what did they take me for 2” ‘ “'Tranquillise yourself, my dear child,” said Mrs. | Brace, never at a loss for expedients to explain away a difficulty, and by no means desirous that Camilla | should be shocked by the late proceeding, whence | unpleasant suspicions might be engendered in the | mind of the artless girl: “I can satisfy you on | every point. Those two young ladies were his lord- ship’s cousins—and the younger, who insulted you, is the one owing me the money. Catching a glimpse of my face in the coach, she suspected your errand; and that was the reason of her insolent conduct.” Camilla was immediately relieved by this expla- nation, composed of a tissue of falsehoods though it were: for the milliner had perfectly well recognised the daughters of Mr. Clarendon, and had taken very good care that Octavia should not see her. The hackney-coach drove rapidly on towards Pall Mall, Mrs. Brace having no more visits to make nor commissions for Miss Morton to execute on the pre- sent occasion. o——— 2 CHAPTER LX. THE SURGEON, / Ovr readers will not have forgotten a certain Mr. Thurston, who figured in the opening chapters of our narrative. This medical gentleman, having not only accumulated money by unwearied application to his business and by habits of the strictest par- simony, but having also received the munificent sum of ten thousand pounds as a recompense for taking charge of the Princess Sophia’s child, re- moved from the Edgeware Road into the fashion- able district of May Fair. ihe house which he thus took was large and of handsome appearance: it stood at the corner of a long paved alley forming the entrance to a mews, and whence a door communicated with the yard at the back of his premises. The interior of the dwelling he furnished in a costly style, well knovw- ing how much the world is in the habit of judging a medical man’s talents by his pecuniary prosperity and the style in which he lives. In this instance, therefore, neither Mr. Thurston nor his niggard wife spared their gold in embellishing their new abode: for it was a matter of calculation that the more they thus laid out, the greater would become the professional practice and the larger the returns of revenue. The infant, who had been entrusted to the care of these people, and whom they had adopted as their own son under the name of Godfrey Thurs- ton, throve admirably. The greatest attention was bestowed upon the child—and the surgeon’s wife soon learnt to love it; while her husband, who was a shrewd and far-seeing man, often thought within himself that the existence of this proof of some high-born lady’s frailty would some day or another yield him a richer harvest than even the ten thousand pounds which he had already reaped. It was only on the very morning of those inci- dents which we have detailed in the preceding chapter, that the brass plate, with Mr. Thurston’s name and profession engraved thereon, had been duly fixed upon the front-door of the new house in May Fair. COMME OOOKS ACO