The Works of George W. M. Reynolds — page 195: what you’re looking at

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178 THE COURT OF LONDON she to ascertain the exact truth as to the circumstances in which he was placed, she could not help him; and thus, for more reasons than one, did he write in a manner as cheerful, as reassuring, and as encouraging as possible. Louisa’s answers were in the tenderest and most affec- tionate strain, and it was evident that, although she sus- pected not his captivity, she nevertheless would have felt more completely at her ease if he were out of France alto- gether. But as several weeks passed away, and she foun] (as she fancied) that he had nothing to complain of, and no perils or calamities to report, she grew tranquillized as to his continued sojourn on the French soil. At the same time, she frequently expressed her surprise at his protracted residence in Lyons when the English newspapers stated that ‘a certain royal lady and her suite’ were sojourning else- where; but when the fair Louisa’s letters did contain an allusion of this kind, it was invariably followed by some such observations as these: ‘‘ However, you are no doubt acting for the best, and I shall await your return in much suspense to hear from your own lps all that you are doing. You assure me that you are in good health and that I need not alarm myself as to your safety; you likewise give me the most affectionate assurances of your unchanging love, and, therefore, what else can I require? ”’ Most dear to Jocelyn were these letters that he received from his beloved Louisa. They were indeed his whole and sole solace, for he knew not when his captivity was likely to terminate. The governor had repeated to him those same proposals which were made by the prefect in Paris, namely, that if he would sign a solemn bond pledging himself to future non-interference in the affairs of her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales, he should be immediately set at liberty; but to this condition, which our hero considered derogatory and dishonourable to a degree, he positively refused to subscribe. He therefore remained in prison, wondering how long it would be ere circumstances might take such a turn as to give him his release. Thus weeks and months passed away, and at length, in the early part of March, the starting intelligence was one morning communicated to Jocelyn’s ears that Napoleon Bonaparte, having fled from his little sovereignty of Elba, had landed in France and was advancing with a handful of GOmMmicbooks (E(0) nm