The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 154: what you’re looking at

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ee ial A i LT ————————_—— 148 a THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. past she had not felt before! There was a world | —you shall continue no longer within these walls. of sentiment in that look with which she gazed up into Redcliffe’s countenance—a look which once beheld, never could be forgotten. “ Rise, my poor girl,” he said, profoundly af- fected. ‘“Isee that I have not been deceived in you—and I will be your friend.” “But my parents, sir—Oh, my parents! ex- claimed Eveleen, with an almost suffocating out- burst of emotions,—“ how will they be brought to receive their dishonoured daughter ?” “Tf they possess the hearts and the feelings of parents,” responded Mr. Redcliffe, “rest assured that you have nothing to fear. I will cheerfully undertake the task of seeing them: I will go to them—I will reason with them—I will entreat them in a word, if they be not something less or something more than human, I will procure their forgiveness for their daughter, should she be really penitent !” “My saviour! my deliverer !” cried Eveleen, with another outburst of impassioned feeling : “how can I ever sufficiently thank you? Oh, that I could do anything to testify my grati- tude !” “You can,” rejoined Redcliffe. “T can?” cried the girl, joy animating her coun- tenance. “Oh, tell me but how, sir, and the cheer- fulness with which I will obey your commands— the zeal and the fidelity with which I will execute your orders—the unasking devotion and even the very blindness with which I will be guided by your will, shall serve as the first proofs of that contrition whereof I have assured you!” ‘‘ Listen then,” said Mr. Redcliffe: “ listen with a calm attention. You know the Duke of March- mont ?” “T do, sir,’ responded Eveleen, a blush mant- ling upon her cheeks: then in a hesitating voice, she added, “ When I was beguiled from my home in Ireland, and brought to this house, it was he to whom I first became a victim !” “The Duke of Marchmont,” continued Redcliffe, “ig engaged in certain treacherous pursuits into which it deeply concerns me to obtain an insight. That infamous woman Madame Angelique is his accomplice, or at least his agent. Something is going on wherein she is mixed up. Next Tuesday evening a box is to be fetched away, under cir- cumstances of mystery and precaution, by a young man in the Duke of Marchmont’s employment. Have you an opportunity of watching the affairs which progress in this establishment ? do you con- sider it possible to obtain any intelligence, no matter how slight it may be, as to the mystery connected with that box?” “JT will endeavour, sir,’ responded Eveleen; “yest assured that I will endeavour. Yes,” she continued thoughtfully, “I have no doubt I can obtain some insight into what is going on. At all events, be assured, sir, that I will do my best. Oh, I should be so rejoiced to give you a proof of my gratitude—of my penitence!” “You must remain here for a few days longer,” observed Redcliffe. “This is my address :’—and as he thus spoke he gave Eveleen his card. “ Come to me on Wednesday morning next, under any circumstances. If in the mean time you should have discovered aught relative to the box, so much the better: but if not, you will come all the same 1? Can you leave when you choose? and will you ac- complish all that I have suggested P” “On Wednesday, sir,” rejoined Eveleen, “I will be with you:’—and her countenance ex- pressed all the genuine joy which she felt at the prospect of emancipation from a mode of existence which was abhorrent to her. “‘ Be it so,” said Redcliffe. ‘ And now, to keep up appearances, I shall leave money upon this table. Remember, I am putting faith in you—I will prove your friend, if you show yourself worthy of my confidence.” “No power on earth, sir, could induce me to deceive you !”’ responded Eveleen, with fervour. Mr. Redcliffe threw a number of bank-notes upon the table; and shaking Eveleen by the hand, he took his departure,—the girl affording him egress by means of the mirror-contrived door. The tailor’s female-adjutant Annette was waiting in the room of the adjoining house wherewith that door communicated: Redcliffe slipped a piece of gold into her hand; and in a few minutes he was retracing his way along the street towards his — lodgings at Mrs, Macaulay’s. CHAPTER XXIX. THE EARL OF LASCELLES. WE are about to direct the reader’s attention to a sumptuously furnished mansion in the neighbour- hood of Kensington. It stood in the midst of its own grounds, which were spacious and inclosed with walls. Within that inclosure there were beautiful gardens, which even in this wintry sea- son of which we are writing, presented an aspect of verdure to the eye, on account of the numerous evergreens which were either interspersed about, or which bordered the avenues. Conservatories and hot-houses, containing fruits and plants, also met the view. There were grass-plats too, and pieces of ornamental water ; and the entire aspect of the scene—buildings and grounds—indicated the wealth of the possessor. This mansion belonged to the Earl of Lascelles; and we may at once inform our reader that he was the nobleman whom Redcliffe had seen join his beautiful wife in the Arcade at Covent Garden. The Earl had been married twice. By his first wife he had a son, who was now grown up to man’s estate, and who bore the denomination of Lord Osmond. His mother had died some few years previously to the period of which we are writing; and it was only within the last eighteen months that the Earl had espoused his second wife, the beautiful Ethel. This lady, belonging to a good family, had been left an orphan at an early age, and was brought up by an uncle and aunt, who had a large family of theirown. Though tolerably well off, they found quite enough to do with their resources; and as Ethel was portionless, she had been constrained by the circumstances of her posi- tion, as well as by the earnest persuasion of her re- latives, to accept the suit of the Earl of Lascelles, who offered her a title and to make her the sharer of his fortune of sixty thousand a-year. It must (C(O) Nn) (C O (0)(0) KS (C(O) nn)