The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 191: what you’re looking at

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

164 THE COURT OF LONDON find Lord Raymond there, he will doubtless obtain some tidings concerning him. At all events, we will do our best; and if the young nobleman is so indifferent to his own in- terests as to have gone away and left no clue to his where- abouts at a time when such an important case is pending, why, he deserves to lose everything, that’s all I can say about it. But still, as the solicitor in this suit, it is my duty to leave no stone unturned in the endeavour to find him out, and that duty shall be performed.” “To be sure, certainly,’ exclaimed Lord Montgomery. ‘‘T will write a letter to my brother, and “hist clerk can take it with him.” The earl accordingly sat down and penned a Loni epistle to Lord Raymond, whom he urged to come up to London without delay. He likewise besought him to forbear in future from treating his relatives with such cruel indifference as he had lately exhibited toward them, reminding him that more than three months had now elapsed since any tidings had been received from him. The earl stated that their mother, the Dowager-Countess of Montgomery, was espe- cially hurt at the long and obstinate silence which Raymond had thus preserved; and he concluded by imploring his brother to exert his moral courage and rise superior to the disappointment which he had experienced in respect to their cousin Fernanda. “There! will that do? ”’ exclaimed the earl, throwing the letter across the desk to Mr. Rigden. | ‘“ Excellently well, my lord,’ replied the stances who hastily cast his eyes over the contents. ‘“ I really had begun to think that your lordship was secretly desirous for your brother to remain absent and leave the testamentary con- ditions unfulfilled, in order that his heritage might lapse to Lady Holderness and yourself. But now I perceive that I wronged your lordship by the suspicion —”’ ‘You could scarcely deem me guilty of such unkindness, Rigden,” interrupted the earl, starting from his seat and turning red as a peony. Then, with as rapid a transition becoming ghastly pale, he added, in a-voice which he vainly essayed to render steady and composed, “ Besides, would it not be a palpable folly on my part to prefer my cousin to my brother, even if I had any pee to influence the results at all? ”’ | GoOmicsooks (E()