The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 207: what you’re looking at

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

182 THE COURT OF LONDON sad, oh, sad indeed would it be for this innocent, unsophis- ticated child of nature to have her mind enlightened as to the past and be taught the history of a mother’s shame! The carriage had entered Hyde Park, and Lady Florimel was thinking how she should turn the conversation into an- other channel, when suddenly loud cries of alarm burst from the lips of several persons walking on the footways on either side of the road, and at the same instant the coachman reined in his horses abruptly. But a crash simultaneously occurred. Fresh ejaculations of terror were heard, the horses of Lady Florimel’s carriage were plunging violently, and several people were rushing to the spot. Pauline and Florence, greatly affrighted, looked forth from the windows, and the cause of the stoppage, confusion, and alarming cries was immediately apparent. A gentleman driving a magnifi- cent horse in a gig had found the animal all in a moment become unmanageable, shying at a white pocket-handker- chief which somebody had let fall and which was blowing across the road. Thus suddenly swerving aside, the spirited steed had come in furious collision with the horses of Lady Florimel’s carriage. The gig was upset, the gentleman was thrown out and either killed upon the spot or stunned, and the maddened animal dashed away, fleet as an arrow, dragging the vehicle like a thing of no weight behind him. Such was the incident which occurred, all in a moment, to turn the thoughts alike of Pauline and Florence into a new channel. The footman who stood behind the carriage instantaneously leaped down and joined those persons who had rushed to the spot to render their assistance. The gentleman, on being raised from the ground, was discovered to have been only stunned, not killed. The footman, step- ping up to the carriage window, reported this intelligence to Pauline, who at once directed that the gentleman should be lifted into the chariot. But who was he? No one on the spot at the moment knew him. It was therefore impossible to convey him to his own residence, and Pauline commanded the carriage to proceed home to Florimel House in Piccadilly. A few minutes brought the equipage thither, and the gentleman, who still remained insensible, was lifted into the mansion, conveyed to a chamber, and surrounded by all possible attentions. Medical aid was procured, and in a short time the sufferer was somewhat restored to conscious- EORNICOOOKS (EO) im