The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 36: what you’re looking at

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

20 THE COURT OF LONDON and how could she go thither to meet him, since none but herself was to be admitted? There was a deep mystery in all this; and the more pro- found the mystery, the stronger becomes the suspicion. So it was in the present case; and while completely perplexed by the ambiguous contents of the note, the Earl of Curzon nevertheless regarded it as an item of evidence against the countess. At all events, it was certain that whatsoever the secret might be, Gertrude was in the confidence of her mistress; but had he not mortally offended the lady’s-maid by his conduct that evening, and could he hope to propitiate her in such a way as to lead her to divulge anything she knew? Reserving this matter for after-consideration, the earl continued his search amongst his wife’s papers. To his further surprise he presently discovered a bill of exchange accepted by himself. It was an old bill, which had been duly honoured by him on arriving at maturity; but it ought to be upon a file in his library, instead of in his wife’s desk. It might, however, have come there by accident; and, after all, the incident was trivial in itself and could have no connection with the object of the search which he was instituting. At the bottom of the desk he discovered a slip of paper, on which the name of ‘‘ Curzon ”’ was written several times. He examined the writing attentively, and soon saw that it was not in his own hand, as he had at the first glance imagined it to be. But the writing was evidently in imitation of his own, and a more minute inspection convinced him that it was Editha’s. Had she, then, been practising his signature? It appeared so; but for what earthly purpose? The bill of exchange caught his eye; and it instantaneously struck him that she had surreptitiously possessed herself of it in order to copy his signature. Yes, this was now apparent enough; but again recurred the question, for what purpose had she done this? There were no more papers to examine, and the earl returned all the letters and documents to the compartment of the desk whence he had taken them. The other compart- ment only contained writing-paper and sealing-wax. He locked the desk again, and, quitting the boudoir unobservedly as he had entered it, retraced his way to the dining-room. GOMIIGDOOks (G (0)