The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 45: what you’re looking at

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

picion? Alas! better were it for me to have re- mained afar off, cherishing this passion of mine as a delicious dream—a joyous delusion—than to have travelled hither to face the stern reality of disap- pointment !” | “No—do not speak thus, adorable being!” cried the Prince, approaching her with extended arms. “Not yet—not yet !” she exclaimed, with a sudden access of impetuous excitement: and waving him back, she looked him full in the countenance, as if to read all that was passing in the deepest recesses of his soul. “Do you believe me now ?” she demanded, in a tone which appeared to imply that all her happi- ness was staked upon the answer. “T do—I do!” exclaimed the Regent, each moment plunging more profoundly into the bliss of an ecstatic infatuation: for every word, every look, every motion on the part of the romantic fair one, only tended to provoke fresh desires and madden his passions beyond all possibility of control. “Oh! accept my fondest thanks—my sincerest, deepest, most fervid gratitude, for that avowal !” she cried, in the exultation of mingled rapture and triumph: then throwing herself back, she closed her eyes gently, as if to concentrate all her powers of vision, both outward and mental, in the contempla- tion of the assurance which she had just received and which she treasured up in the recesses of her soul. The Prince’s head was lost as it were amidst all the influences which were brought to bear upon his senses : for this attitude to which the lady had just abandoned herself formed another light in which to view a ravishing picture, and in which new graces and new _| charms were developed. And as the lady’s fervid soul appeared to breathe through her entire person, the im- pression which each movement on her part made upon the mind, was that all the fiexions of her body were the indices of her passions. Drawing himself towards her in a sidelong manner, the Prince passed his arm gently round her waist— and for a few moments she seemed unconscious of the circumstante. But as he pressed her more sensi- bly and became bolder in his toyings, she suddenly started—gazed upon him for an instant with a half- wondering, half-affrighted look—and then burst into tears. Astonished and pained by this abrupt and most unaccountable ebullition of grief, he strained her more closely in his arms—kissed away her tears—and_ be- came so moved by her sorrow and so maddened by the contact of her form, that he would have made any sacrifice in order to recall the smiles to her coun- tenance and win from her the favours which she had more than half promised to bestow. “What grieves you, dearest one?” he murmured soothingly. “I was suddenly reminded of a circumstance which Cuts me to the quick,” she answered, in a broken voice and with convulsive sobs. “But name it—explain yourself,” said the Regent. “Ts there aught which I can do——” ry Yes — everything !” she replied, accompanying the words with the tenderest caresses. “Tell me—keep me not in suspense 3 “A person who has merited your displeasure, and * is related to me by the bonds of near kin- ship———” a I will forgive him,” said the Prince. a > “Ts that THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. 31 “Oh! it is more than he could hope!” she mur- mured, pressing closer to her royal companion and redoubling the ardour of her caresses. “ But you must sign his pardon——-” “T will sigz anything—everything,” gasped the infatuated Prince, breathless with maddening passion: ‘** s9 long as I may seal the same upon your lips.” _ “Confirm this act of clemency with your auto- graph,” whispered the lady, in her most seductive tones,—* and I am thine! ’Twill be but the workof a moment —there are writing materials upon the table——” And with her arms still wound about the Prince’s neck, and her form half clinging to him—half nest- ling in his embrace,—she made him rise from the sofa, and drew him gently towards the table. ’Twas, as she had said, the work of but a few moments: and during this brief interval she so played upon his senses by the most thrilling, impassioned, fervid caresses, and by permitting those toyings for which her light apparel allowed such scope, that the Prince reeled as if under the influence of intoxication — and his senses were steeped in that elysian ebriety. Close by the table there was an ottoman, upon which the royal voluptuary and his companion seated themselves—and on the table there was a paper with something written upon it. The Prince endeavoured to read the lines traced thereon: but the glowing arms drew his head down till it reached a still more palpitating breast—and then, in one of those mo- ments in which a man’s senses are so enthralled by woman’s magic influence that he would sell his soul to Satan rather than abandon the crowning bliss,— in such a moment was it that his Royal Highness seized the pen and affixed his name to the docu- ment. Then, breathless with the prolonged excitement, he once more strained the lady in his arms: and she murmured with billing tenderness, “I am thine! I am thine !” CHAPTER VII. THE SEQUEL OF THE NIGHT’S ADVENTURE. LET us now return to the sable chamber in which Lord Leveson and the Prince Regent's two servants had been left in total darkness. Their position was far from being agreeable: but they did not see any way in which they could pos- sibly help themselves. The solemn warning given by the leader of the band ere he quitted the room, still continued to ring in their ears long after the sounds of the retreating footsteps had ceased; and although they did not relish the thought of thus being left in the darkness of a strange place, where a myriad un- known dangers might surround them, they dared not move from the seats which they had taken nor yet give utterance to even a whispered syllable. In silence and darkness, therefore, did upwards of twenty minutes elapse: and at the expiration of this period returning footsteps were heard, descending the great staircase—and the chief, bearing the lantern in his hand, appeared from behind the sable drapery. But at the same instant that the light thus gleamed in its dimness again,—shadowing forth the gloom of the apartment, and playing with ghastly reflection upon the countenances of the nobleman and the ser- vants,—these three prisoners becavado) sat xal afove) <> (CO)