The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 394: what you’re looking at

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

ee ee ee I EL LO ALD ELLLI DL ED LLL ALE LL LL ODL 358 — THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. --- | Beverley, “ give your hand in welcome to this, my - | best and dearest friend—the being whom next to | yourself I must love the most sincerely! You have | yet to learn the immensity of obligation which is CHAPTER LUXXvV. THE YOUNG BARONET. le scene was a frightful one: the sudden death of Sir John Steward, following with such awful quickness upon what thus proved to be a presaging warning on his nephew’s part, struck all present with a sense of heaven’s retribution. Edgar him- self stood aghast—motionless—statue-like, though every hand which an instant before was upon him, fell as if palsied from its fierce ruffian grasp upon his garments. Laura sprang upright as if gal- vanized, and stood gazing for a few moments in wild horror upon the scene: then with a sudden and half-stifled shriek, she averted her looks— covered her face with her hands, as if to shut out some object of horror—and sank almost fainting upon a chair. Mrs. Oxenden, half-stunned for nearly a minute, was transfixed to the spot,—her widely-open eyes staring upon the hideous scene as if she were in a fearful state of somnambulism: and then, suddenly startled to a sense of the change which had been wrought in the circum- stances of Edgar Beverley, she turned towards her sister, murmuring, “ For heaven’s sake forgive me, my dearest Laura!” But the young maiden, whose brain was in a whirl, had lost all sense of the relationship sub- sisting between them ; and seeing in Mrs. Oxenden nothing more than a bitter enemy who a few minutes back had been mercilessly upbraiding and taunting her for her attempted flight,—the young damsel, we say, repulsed with horror the vile woman whose selfishness alone prompted a recon- ciliation. Mrs. Oxenden fell back utterly discomfited ; and Laura, obedient to a sudden impulse, sprang for- ward and was once more clasped in the arms of Edgar Beverley. This time there was no one who thought of separating the lovers: but still the young maiden clung to Hdgar as if she were yet without a positive idea of safety. The attorney saw that the new Baronet was in no condition of mind to issue such commands as were requisite under the circumstances; and he therefore undertook that duty himself. “ Remove the body of your late master—begone from the room, every one of you—let Mr. Ashton, who is a prisoner down-stairs, be immediately liberated—tell him what has occurred—and show him the way hither. As for you, vile wretch,” he added, turning to the negress, “tramp !—and if you take yourself off from the mansion at once, there will be no harm done.” Then the lawyer’s eyes settled sternly upon Mrs. Oxenden, as if he meant to issue the same im- perious advice to her: but she looked as if she were about to sink down on the carpet in a fit; and Mr. Andrews left the words unspoken. The commands which he had uttered, were however promptly obeyed: the negress disappeared in affright—the corpse of the deceased Baronet was borne from the apartment—the document on which the blood gushed forth, was likewise removed—the posse of domestics withdrew—and in a few mo- ments afterwards Christian Ashton entered the drawing-room. “Laura, dearest Laura,” exclaimed Sir Edgar nm. _ cr OCC due from us both to Mr. Ashton !” The young maiden—who by this time had re. covered a sufliciency of her self-possession, if not of positive mental composure, to understand that it was not all a dream, but a startling reality—at once gave her hand to our young hero, whom she then recognised as the same individual that had lent his succour when the accident occurred to the carriage. Christian’s countenance was exceed- ingly pale: for the news of Sir John Steward’s death had been communicated as abruptly as the incident itself had occurred ; and much as he had loathed and abhorred the man, yet he could not remain unsusceptible of horror at his awful fate. “You experience, my dear Ashton,” said Bever- ley, “the same feeling as myself. I am shocked and appalled: but it would savour of the vilest hypocrisy to profess affliction for an occurrence which is heaven’s retribution itself. This is now my mansion—and you, Ashton, are indeed a wel- come guest !” At that instant the young Baronet’s eyes settled upon Mrs. Oxenden, who was advancing with the air of the humblest supplicant. A burning indig- nation sprang up to his countenance—his arm was already stretching forth to bid her avaunt—his lips were wreathing to form the word “Begone !”—when Laura, smitten with commiseration for the abject appearance of her lately imperious relative, mur- mured, “Remember, dearest Edgar, she is my sister !” “True, said DGeverley: and then he instanta- neously recollected that his intended bride could not with decency remain beneath that roof unless in the companionship of a female relation. “ Mrs. Oxenden,” he went on to observe, “to say that L forgive you, is to proclaim as much as you can ever expect to hear from my lips: but you cannot suppose that friendship will exist between us. Remain here for the present—I do not consign your sister to your care—thank heaven, I am now in a position to befriend and protect her: but perhaps you will endeavour by your attentions to atone as much as possible for that past conduct which I will forbear from designating by terms as harsh as it merits.” Mrs. Oxenden took JLaura’s hand, and looked most plaintively in her face, as if to beseech her sympathy, her pardon, and the restoration of her love: but generous-hearted, magnanimous, as well as kindly gentle though the young maiden were, it was nevertheless impossible that she could in a moment put away from her recollection the sense of the bitter wrongs and persecution that she had experienced at the hands of her sister. “ T will not speak a reproachful word to you,” she said in a low tremulous voice, while tears trickled down her cheeks: “but as for ever again being as we once were towards each other, I fear Laura however left the remainder of the sen- tence unuttered; and as she still clung to her lover’s arm, she was compelled to turn away from her sister, because Sir Edgar Beverley at the mo- ment was about to address a few words to Mr. Andrews. 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