The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 342: what you’re looking at

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

306 THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. vantage. Her raven hair hung in heavy tresses, with a sort of stucied negligence, upon her ad- mirably sloping shoulders; and there was some- thing majestic and stately in the carriage of her fine tall form, as well as resolute and determined in the gestures with which she gave impressive- ness to her discourse. Christian was too far off to catch a syllable that was said, or even to hear the tones of their voices: but he had a keen power of vision—and this enabled him to discern that their onversation was of an earnest character. That it related to Laura, he had no doubt; and that it boded naught favourable to her happiness, he was equally certain. For upwards of half-an-hour did the old Baronet and Mrs. Oxenden walk to and fro upon the lawn, thus discoursing. At the expiration of that in- terval the lady left the old man, and re-entered the dwelling. Sir John remained in the garden; and every now and then he rubbed his hands to- gether, as if with a gloating satisfaction at some idea that was uppermost in his mind. In about twenty minutes two females issued from the man- sion: one was immediately recognised by Christian to be the beautiful Laura—the other was a horrible-looking negress with great thick lips and a most repulsive aspect. The young lady was apparelled in a morning dress; but she had on her bonnet, as if she were going for a walk. This however might merely be on account of the heat of the sun: for it was now past noon, and its beams poured down with sultry strength. The in- stant she caught a glimpse of Sir John Steward, she shrank back; but the horrible-looking negress seized her roughly by the arm, and appeared to address her in threatening language. Such was our hero’s indignation, that he was about to spring down from the tree, scale the garden wall, and bound forward to her assistance, — when he was suddenly struck by the rashness and folly of such © proeeeding, inasmuch as he would be placing himself in a false position by an illegal trespass upon the Baronet’s grounds. It was however difh- cult for him to exercise a sufficient degree of patience to keep him there as a mere beholder, in the midst of the dense foliage of that tree. The negress, we have said, caught the young lady by the arm, and appeared to use threatening language towards her—whereat she seemed smitten with dismay ; and she suffered the black woman to lead her along towards the Baronet, who was ap- proaching across the grass-plat with his shufiling, shambling gait. He said something to her: Laura averted her countenance as if in mingled anguish and aversion—Sir John went on speaking—she slowly turned her eyes upon him again—she listened with a deepening attention—and then Christian saw the old man take her hand and con- tinue his discourse. That hand of her’s lingered in his: she appeared to listen with a deepening interest—but Christian was too far off to discern the precise expression of her countenance; though he thought that it indicated a painful seriousness. Slowly did Sir John Steward insinuate an arm round Laura’s waist: for a few moments she did not appear to notice it—but as if all in an instant becoming aware that such was the case, she ab- ruptly disengaged herself. Then the negress spoke and gesticulated vehemently—the Baronet made her a sign to be quiet—and he seemed to go on mn ee addressing Laura in a coaxing, cajoling strain. This much Christian judged from his gestures: but whether it were so or not, Laura suddenly interrupted him by clasping her hands and saying something with an air of the most touching appeal. The Baronet gave a brief response, and turned aside in one direction—while Laura and the negress, withdrawing in the other, re-entered the mansion. A few minutes afterwards Mrs. Oxenden came forth and rejoined Sir John Steward. They had not been together many moments, when a foot- man in handsome livery accosted them and deli- vered some message. He withdrew—but shortly re-appeared, conducting a gentleman dressed. in deep black, and who had the appearance of a clergyman—or, as a second thought suggested to Christian, of a Catholic priest, by certain pecu- liarities in his apparel. The footman retired; and the visitor in black remained for about ten minutes in conversation with Sir John Steward and Mrs. Oxenden. They then all three slowly entered the mansion together; and as another half-hour passed without the re-appearance of any of those whose proceedings Christian had been watching, he descended from the tree. It was now two o’clock in the afternoon—and he knew not whether to retrace his way to Rams- gate, or to linger in that neighbourhood with the chance of seeing anything more that might throw the faintest light on what was going on within the precincts of Verner House. He was however fearful of being detected in that vicinage—in which case his presence might possibly do more harm than good to Laura’s interests. He had less misgiving in respect to the intentions harboured towards her than he had previously entertained : that is to say, he no longer thought it was for an outrageously vile purpose that she had been brought thither, but that matrimonial views were entertained—or else why the presence of that gentleman in black, who was evidently a minister of religion of some denomination or another? He began to retrace his way towards the town, partially with the idea of acquainting the landlord of the hotel with all he had seen, and asking his advice and assistance ; yet his mind was not altogether made up to the adoption of this step, inasmuch as he naturally reflected that the landlord had quite enough to do in attending to his own business without attending to that of others, and that he might moreover be reluctant to perform a hostile part towards a man of wealth and influence in the neighbourhood. For an instant Christian thought of boldly addressing himself to a magistrate : but it required only another moment’s thought to make him aware that there was not sufficient ground for legal interference in any shape or way. In a word, our young hero could settle his mind to no decisive course of action; and yet he was determined not to abandon the enterprise in which he had embarked. He entered Ramsgate: and as he was proceed- ing towards the hotel, he beheld a group of mountebanks exhibiting their antics in the market- place. Three or four, apparelled in a quaint costume, were mounted on high stilts—while a companion in plain clothes was beating a huge drum and running his lips rapidly along a set of pandean pipes conveniently thrust into his il EE OM: Ke eKeXe cS, GO