Penny Blood Serial Fiction — page 130: what you’re looking at

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

LADY BkEss’S HISTORY 113 my mind how to act, in order to serve my own views, and that if by so doing I served theirs at the same time, it was through no love that I bore them. Soon afterward Sir John Marston made his appearance, accompanied by a very handsome young Frenchman who spoke English perfectly, and whom he introduced to me as the Marquis of Villebelle. So I was to become a marchioness. This did not, however, flatter my pride in the slightest degree, for I cared nothing about artificial rank and the nauseating blazonry of titles. Nor did the agreeable person of the young marquis produce any tender impression upon my heart; and notwithstanding his good looks, his graceful bearing, and his elegant manners, I remained perfectly willing to carry out the baronet’s con- ditions to their utmost limit, and separate from my intended husband the moment the ceremony should have been per- formed. Besides, I should have loathed myself if all in a moment I could have made up my mind to fall into the arms of aman whom | had never seen before, and whom, therefore, I had not been led to love. “Well, to proceed with my narrative. No preparations in the shape of apparel were made for this singular wedding. The white veil, the virgin dress, the orange-blossoms, and the bouquet were all wanting. I was well but plainly attired, and with no one single indication that I was about to become a bride. Indeed, the other inmates of the hotel remained in perfect ignorance that any such ceremony was contemplated. Sir John and Lady Marston, Mrs. Lloyd, the Marquis of Villebelle, and myself entered a carriage hired for the occasion, and proceeded to the British Embassy, where my hand was duly united in marriage to that of the French nobleman. ‘The chaplain who solemnized the rite gave me a certificate, which I secured about my person. We then returned to the carriage, and drove back to the hotel. There I at once took leave of the marquis, and repaired to the room where Sir John Marston and I had held the con- versation three hours back. “In about twenty minutes he joined me, accompanied by an elderly French gentleman, dressed in black, and whom he introduced to me as a notary public. This functionary produced several papers, and requested me to show him the marriage certificate. I did so, whereupon he filled up a couple of papers attesting that this certificate had been CONNIE DOOKS (FO)