The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 336: what you’re looking at

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

CHAPTER XXXIII THE EARL OF MONTGOMERY’S VISITORS THE day that dawned upon the deed of self-destruction which we have just narrated was the 3lst of May, — a day that was destined to prove memorable in respect to the con- flicts between the Montgomerys and Lady Bellenden. Indeed this was the day on which the Master in Chancery had under- taken to deliver his report upon the various points at issue; and as the eventual judgment of the Lord Chancellor himself was certain to be influenced, if not altogether guided by the nature of that report, it was feasibly assumed that the long pending process between the Montgomerys and the Bellen- dens would be virtually settled on this day. The Earl of Montgomery rose from his couch at an early hour, and, gazing upon his image in the looking-glass, he murmured to himself, ‘“‘ I am pale, but not so pale nor ill as might be expected after the sleepless hours which I passed, and after the troubled dreams that haunted me during the brief slumber that visited me at length.”’ The nobleman then proceeded with his toilet; but in the midst he stopped short, pressed his hand to his brow, and said impatiently to himself, ‘‘ How is it that I cannot divest my soul of this gloomy presentiment? It is the influence of those unpleasant visions still overshadowing my imagination. Wherefore should my heart sink within me? Why should my hand tremble thus? And how is it that I experience this feverish heat all over me? I have nothing to fear — nothing to apprehend. My secrets are all safe, Fernanda is staunch, and Rigden declares that I must gain the suit. Why, then, do I yield to apprehension? Why am] a prey to terrors so indefinite and vague? Oh, it is that one fearful incident which has never ceased to haunt me since the date of its 305 CORnNICLOOKS (F©)