The Works of George W. M. Reynolds — page 295: what you’re looking at

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

278 REYNOLDS’ WORKS Edmund Saxondale, but who was really the supplanter of him who was known to the world as William Deveril.. More- over, her ladyship received the welcome intelligence that the stupendous secret was to be kept, that nothing was to be made known, that the lips of Angela and the Marquis of Hagledean were sealed, and that William himself preferred his comparative obscurity to the attainment of rank and riches by the ruin of his mother. It was not, therefore, diffi- cult for Lady Saxondale to bring herself to lavish caresses upon our hero, to press him to her bosom, to acknowledge him as her offspring, to welcome him as her son, to speak kindly and to look tenderly. But her heart was in reality unmoved toward him. Those maternal yearnings which are so natural on the part of woman, and almost so invariable, were in this instance stifled, subdued, and crushed beneath the weight of selfish consid- erations. Had he proclaimed an intention of demanding his rights and appealing to the tribunals, she would have ignored him as her son, she would have repudiated his claim to be considered her offspring, she would have dared him to the proof, and she would have risked everything in the des- perate struggle of one last fight for the maintenance of all that she had committed so many crimes to consolidate. But he had acted otherwise, her conduct was shaped accord- ingly, and when he went forth from her presence, she felt herself in reality more safe and secure than for many months past she had been. No wonder, therefore, that a smile of sat- isfaction and exulting, triumph appeared upon her features, for in this brief interview she had comprehended all that was grand, noble, and magnanimous on the part of her son, and she felt confident that whatsoever he had promised he would faithfully perform. The glance which she threw over her present position was in every way reassuring and comforting for the bad heart of this unscrupulous lady. Madge Somers was dead, and she need trouble herself concerning that woman no longer. Lord Harold Staunton, being irreconcilably at variance with his uncle the Marquis of Eagledean, was altogether dependent upon her, and therefore in her power. She needed not his services to forward her aims, and she could consequently dictate to him her own terms. In this respect her resolution was taken: she would retain him as her paramour, for having CONNIE DOO KS (E(0)