The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 196: what you’re looking at

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

170 THE COURT OF LONDON seated in their handsomely furnished parlour. Octavia was half-reclining upon the sofa, Pauline occupied a chair near the window, and was working. The former was gazing intently upon a sprig of lilac which she held in her fair hand, and was weaving with her somewhat confused thoughts the associa- tions which the flower conjured up relative to the blooming of fond hopes to-day and their withering to-morrow; while the younger sister was thinking of Lord Florimel and mar- velling uneasily why he had not answered the letter which she had written to him a few days previously to Dover. Suddenly the gate of the little garden in front of the house. creaked upon its hinges; and the look which Pauline flung forth encountered the glance of Lord Florimel. Rapture, hope, and suspense were depicted upon his features; but the colour instantaneously fled from the cheeks of Pauline and a sensation of dizziness came over her, for now that the moment so anxiously expected had arrived and they were about to meet again, she knew not how to receive him. The whole details of the masquerade scene came back, vivid in colouring and poignant in effect, to her memory. She still believed in his perfidy, and yet she felt that she must yield him her forgiveness. The double knock at the door resounded through the house, and Octavia started nervously. ‘“‘ Oh, if that were the prince come to implore my pardon! ” she exclaimed, trembling all over with the fever of excite- ment. ‘“'No, my dearest sister, that will never happen, and you are wrong to indulge the hope, poor girl!” said Pauline. ‘“‘ But if it were — “Then I would forgive him,” ejaculated Octavia, with impassioned accent. It appeared as if an angel’s voice had suddenly answered, by means of Octavia’s lips, the question which Pauline was mooting in the recesses of her own heart with regard to Florimel; and the thought flashed to her mind in a moment, that if her sister who was so deeply injured would forgive the author of her wrongs, it was assuredly incumbent upon herself to pardon the comparatively venial offences of which Florimel had been guilty toward her. With the speed of lightning did this reflection traverse her imagination; and the next moment the handsome and Gomilchdoo <S)