The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 332: what you’re looking at

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

CHAPTER XXXV THE TWO NOBLEMEN A weex had elapsed since the occurrences just related, and it was about eleven in the forenoon that the handsome but effeminate young Lord Florimel was seated in the break- fast-parlour at his elegant mansion in Piccadilly. He was dressed in the negligent attire of a robe-de-chambre and slippers; and he was perusing a tender note which he had just received from Pauline Clarendon, who was still staying at the Duchess of Devonshire’s villa near Aylesbury. The communication spoke favourably in respect to poor Octavia, and contained the most fervent assurances of the fair writer’s unchanging love for the young nobleman. Florimel was already in the midst of his second perusal of this note, when the door was opened gently and a black page entered the room. This sable menial was apparently between fourteen and fifteen years of age. Of low stature and slender shape, his form was nevertheless of a symmetry alike elegant and grace- ful; and his movements were as noiseless as if he were an aerial being. Though his skin was as black as an African’s, yet in his features had he nothing characteristic of the negro race. On the contrary, his hair, which was curled in a myriad small ringlets over his shoulders, was of silken fineness, and his facial outline was delicate and pretty. His eyes were large and sparkled with intelligence, and his beautiful teeth gleamed like pearls between the lips which were rather full, but of a lively red. His hands were delicate and even girlish in their appearance, for the fingers were long and exquisitely tapered, and the fine, almond-shaped nails were of a pellucid roseate tint. But although the fire of intellect sparkled in the eyes of 298 (C(O) mG 6)(0)©)