The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 273: what you’re looking at

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

244 THE COURT OF LONDON matters; all letters will assuredly be intercepted. But come to me when you can, for I am very, very unhappy.” This letter was by no means calculated to soothe the troubled mind of the Princess Sophia, and when Lady Prescott had taken her departure, her Royal Highness fell into a painful reverie. As if her own cares furnished not sufficient food for her infelicitous meditation, she had now the sorrows of her niece to mingle with her own. But could it be really true that no conspiracy was on foot against the Princess Caroline? Could she believe the assurances which her brother the prince regent had given her upon this sub- ject? She was inclined to do so, because it was no doubt difficult for a daughter to believe that her own mother, and that mother the Queen of England, would be engaged in such a plot. And yet the princess still had her doubts and was tortured with cruel uncertainties, and she resolved to take no further step in the matter until she had maturely considered it in all its bearings. She did not therefore write to Jocelyn Loftus a second letter, according to her promise to the prince regent, nor did she issue any orders against his admission to her presence, should he call at St. James’s Palace. Neither did she repair to Windsor to confer with her afflicted niece, but she postponed all further proceedings until the morrow. And when the morrow came, what did it bring forth? It was a little past noon and the Princess Sophia was seated in her drawing-room, — not in the negligee of a boudoir, but in an elegant morning costume, — when a footman entered to announce that a gentleman who gave the name of Mr. Loftus requested an audience of her Royal Highness. The princess hesitated for a few moments, but at length she resolved to see him, and dismissing the ladies who were in attendance, she ordered the domestic to introduce Mr. Loftus. The moment Jocelyn entered the room the Princess Sophia was struck with an impression entirely in his favour. It was not because he was so faultlessly handsome, of such a symmetrical form and fascinating appearance, although these qualifications might at any other time have had their weight with the princess, whose temperament was sensuous even to a devouring fervour, but it was rather because the Gomicbdooks (E(0)