The Works of George W. M. Reynolds — page 128: what you’re looking at

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

THE MISTRESS Tit plete, inasmuch as she had for some time past been troubled and anxious on account of those relatives who were so dear to her. She had heard of the terrific exposure which took place a few months back at Saxondale Castle, when the double wedding was so strangely interrupted and broken off. She knew therefore that her sister Juliana was thor- oughly and irredeemably disgraced, and that her mother’s name had suffered at the same time in the estimation of the world. She likewise knew that her mother and Juliana were not now together, — that the former was in England, and the latter somewhere upon the Continent; and she was erieved that her sister suffered her not to become acquainted with the place of seclusion to which she had retired. Con- stance was also aware that her brother Edmund had mar- ried the Baroness de Charlemont, who was tried for the murder of her first husband, and all these circumstances were sufficient to depress her somewhat. Nevertheless, her husband’s love — so sincere and so devoted — was powerful enough to mitigate much of that full amount of grief which she would otherwise have experienced, and no one, as she entered the brilliantly lighted saloon at the Viscount de Chateauneuf’s mansion, would have suspected that the felicity of the Marchioness of Villebelle was thus alloyed. We will pass over all details in respect to the sumptuous banquet which was served up. Let our readers suppose it to be over, and the company dispersed about the suite of gilded and brilliantly lighted saloons thrown open for their reception. There was music in one; in another the tables were spread with splendidly bound volumes and prints; in a third the card-tables were set out; and the fourth opened upon a spacious winter-garden, or conservatory of glass, heated by artificial means, and containing a varied selection of the choicest plants as well as of several fruit-trees from the tropics. The Viscountess de Chateauneuf and the Mar- chioness of Villebelle, who had already conceived a friendship for each other, were seated together upon a sofa in the music-room; a young lady was at the piano, another at the harp; others were sitting with young gentlemen, and listen- ing to the melody, or perhaps whispering with each other; the elderly gentlemen and ladies were in the card-room. In short, all the company were agreeably occupied in some way or another. The Marquis of Villebelle had accompanied CONNIE DOOKS (C(O)