The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 235: what you’re looking at

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

204 THE COURT OF LONDON glean from one old man of eighty-four, another of seventy- three, and a third of sixty-nine, the particular Marquis of Bellenden alluded to died and was buried at least two years before 1745; and my informants are enabled to speak thus positively as to dates, because that of 1745 was the year of the Great Rebellion. If, therefore, it should transpire that the late marquis’s father did really die in 1748, and not in 1745, then the conveyance deed which Lady Bellenden has filed in court must be a forgery, because it purports to have been dated and signed in 1745.’ ” ‘Lord Montgomery was very kind and condescending to narrate all these particulars,’’ observed the Marchioness of Bellenden, who had committed to her tablets every sen- tence and syllable uttered by the clergyman. “ Did he tell you anything more, Mr. Roberts? ”’ “His lordship merely said that if he had appeared strangely communicative, it was only because he was con- ducting the lawsuit in an open, frank, and candid manner, and he did not care if all the world knew each successive step that was taken in it, so far as he was concerned. And now,” added the Reverend Mr. Roberts, ‘‘ that I have told your ladyship all that passed between the earl and myself on the occasion referred to, I will hasten to make the neces- sary preparations for your visit to the church.” With these words the reverend gentleman took a tempo- rary leave of the marchioness, who now remained alone in the parlour at the inn. For a few minutes she reflected pro- foundly upon all that she had just heard; then, as a smile of triumph appeared slowly upon her beautiful countenance; she murmured to herself, ‘‘ The victory shall be mine, and Kugene Montgomery shall sink humbled, terror-stricken, and a miserable suppliant at my feet.” Having thus expressed the feeling that was uppermost in her mind, —a feeling which certainly savoured more of vindictiveness than was quite consistent with her character for Christian benevolence and pious resignation, — the Marchioness of Bellenden rang the bell for her confidential domestics. Of these two individuals we must say a few words. The female attendant was a woman of about fifty years of age, still retaining the traces of great beauty, and wearing a matronly appearance of the highest respectability. In fact, GoOmicsooks (E(0)