The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 272: what you’re looking at

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

THE PREFECT AND HIS GUESTS 245 ‘‘ Well,” exclaimed the prefect, who from the first moment he sat down to table with his friends had thrown off all official reserve, and who now laughed heartily at the thoughts which the present discourse had conjured up in his mind, ‘with regard to Lord Leveson’s visit to Paris, I can safely say that of all the amusing incidents which ever came to my knowledge, certain matters involved in this affair are the most eminently diverting.” “TI presume his lordship’s visit to our gay capital,’ said Jules Martignac, ‘‘is in some way or another connected with the mission of those three young English ladies, — the Misses Owen, I mean, — who were appointed to proceed to Italy in order to occupy certain situations about the person of her Royal Highness the Princess Caroline? ”’ ‘That is to say, the wife of the present prince regent of England,” added one of the gentlemen spies. ‘‘ Precisely so,’ continued the prefect. ‘‘ Well, and then these three girls, these Misses Owen, fall in with a certain young gentleman calling himself Jocelyn Loftus; and he, with more generous candour than astute discretion, tells them in plain terms that he has embarked in the Quixotic enterprise of thwarting all their schemes and preventing them from proceeding to Italy to fulfil their mission.” ‘“‘ The insensate Englishman! ” exclaimed Jules Martignac. ‘“ But, after all, whether he had thus revealed his purposes to the young ladies, or not, would scarcely have signified in the long run; for the moment he set foot in Paris, every act and proceeding on his part was sure to become known to the authorities and be duly chronicled in the Black Books at the prefecture. Ah!” added the handsome but affected official, “‘ what a blessing it is to have such a well-ramified system of police as we have got! ”’ ‘But you must observe in this case, Jules,’ said the prefect, “ that it was not my business to trouble myself about Mr. Jocelyn Loftus or the Misses Owen unless in pursuance of the special wish of certain parties in England; and such wish was speedily intimated to our government. I need not remind you, my friends, that at the restoration of his Majesty Louis XVIII to the French throne in April last, a secret compact was made between this august monarch and the illustrious prince regent of England, to the effect that they should mutually forward, advance, and succour CORNICLOOOKS (CO)