The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 310: what you’re looking at

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

THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. like to know waat that letter contained which I received yesterday morning, re-directed from Park Lane ?” Lady Saxondale hesitated for a moment—and then said, “‘ Yes.” “Tt was from Constance,” replied Juliana. ‘She and the Marquis were married in Paris, and_at once proceeded on their way to Madrid, where he has obtained a good diplomatic appointment.” Whether Lady Saxondale would have given any response to this information, we know not: for at *the moment the door opened, and a domestic en- tered bearing a letter, which the postman had just brought over from Gainsborough. Her ladyship, at once recognizing the handwriting of Mr. Marlow, opened it: but she had not read many lines before a look of annoyance gathered upon her features. She however commanded her feelings, and quickly compesed her countenance: then, having perused the letter, she folded it up and continued her break- fast. Juliana saw that it was something unpleasant which the epistle contained: but as her mother gave no explanation, she did not seek it—the un- derstanding being that they were not to pry into each other’s affairs. After breakfast Lady Saxondale shut herself up in her own chamber, and pondered long and pain- fully upon Mr. Marlow’s letter. It contained, as the reader has no doubt suspected, an account of Mr. Gunthorpe’s visit: and the lawyer requested her ladyship to send him her instructions within a week. Lady Saxondale was one who seldom de- layed in making up her mind how to act: but in this instance she could not resolve so speedily. She saw that the present dilemma was anawkward one: for she was terribly frizhtened lest Lord Harold Staunton, either through vengeance or remorse, should seek out Deveril and. make him acquainted with all the circumstances which had impelled him into provoking the young artist to a duel. If armed with that evidence, Deveril could crush her in a court of justice: but without it, he could not well prove his case against her. She now regretted having made an enemy of Lord Harold Staunton, even though her honour must have been sacrificed in order to purchase his friendship. The result of Lady Saxondale’s deliberation was a resolve to pro- pitiate Lord Harold and ensure his silence. But inasmuch as she could not well invite an unmarried young man on a visit by himself to Saxondale Castle, she resolved to send a pressing invitation to Lady Macdonald to pass a few weeks in Lincoln- shire, and bring Lord Harold and Lady Florina with her. She accordingly wrote by that very day’s post to this effect; and she likewise despatched a letter to Mr. Marlow, repelling with much virtuous indignation what she termed “the black calumnies invented by Deveril against her,” but promised to give him farther instructions in a few days. In the evening Lady Saxondale and Juliana, both elegantly dressed, and both looking grandly beauti- ful, entered the carriage, and were borne to the mansion of Mr. and Mrs. Denison, which was about two miles distant from the Castle. There was a dinner-party at the Denisons’ on this occasion —to be followed by a bail, at which all the sur- rounding nobility and gentry, with their wives and daughters, were to be present. The Denisons were one of the richest and belonged to one of the oldest A A families in Lincolnshire. The father and mother were advanced in life, and had several sons and daughters, nearly all of whom were married and settled in different parts of the county. They were of course all present on this occasion. Amongst the other guests was Squire Hawkshaw, whose name has been already mentioned, and whom we must now specially introduce to our readers. He was a tall, well-made man, about six-and- thirty years of age, and a good specimen of the modern class of “‘ country gentlemen,” so far as his personal appearance went: for he had nothing of the coarse manners and roystering vulgarity of the squirearchy of the old school. He was however of a jovial disposition, honest and frank-hearted; with a countenance not positively handsome, but open and good-humoured, and impressing an ob- server with the conviction that he was a thoroughly straight-forward and well-meaning man. His fea- tures were large—his forehead very high—and he possessed a remarkably fine head of brown hair. His manners were good, but neither elegant nor polished: there was nothing vulgar in them, but at the same time they would scarcely have suited the exquisite fastidiousness of the West End of London. His laugh was too loud and merry for the delicate nerves of the mere female creatures of fashion; and yet such was its unalloyed good humour, that only such creatures could have wished it to be more subdued, He dressed well, but not with the extreme nicety of a lounger in Hyde Park or the other fashionable resorts of the metropolis ; and he was certainly much more at home with male companions who could converse upon horses, and dogs, and field-sports generally, than at a whist- table as the partner of an old dowager with tur- baned head and pursed-up mouth. Mr. George Hawkshaw was a very rich man. The Hall—as his residence was denominated—was One oi the finest country-seats in Lincolnshire; and he maintained a numerous establishment of do- mestics. How it was that he had not as yet mar- ried, no one exactly knew—unless it were, in general terms, that he was not a marrying man. Manya mother however could conscientiously lay her hand upon her heart and affirm that if one of her daughters had not become “ Mrs. Hawkshaw of the Hall,” it was for no want of manceuvring on her part; and all the marriageable young ladies round about could with equal sincerity satisfy their con- Bciences that they had done their best to ensnare him in love’s toils. Such was the individual whom the Hon. Miss Juliana Farefield had selected in her own mind as her future husband. Juliana reasoned with herself that if the power of her charms and the influence of her fascinations had failed to procure her a hus- band in the metropolitan circles of fashion, during the six years that had elapsed since she first came out at sixteen, they were by no means likely to ex- perience failure when their artillery was played off against the heart of a country squire; and she felt proudly conscious of the fact that in all Lincoln- shire there was not a young lady of such splendid attractions as her own. Indeed, never had Juliana appeared to greater advantage than on the evening of which we are writing. The ball-dress that she wore displayed the glowing magnificence of her charms—the superb ee. eee eee 295 Go JOO S (C@)