The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 325: what you’re looking at

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

292 THE COURT OF LONDON husband such as you, and a base, intriguing courtesan such as you!”’ And having thus poured forth the bitterness of her invectives and the lightning of her looks upon the earl and Lady Prescott, Editha resumed her mask, glided up the staircase, and plunged into the saloons, where she was shortly after joined by Sackville and Gertrude, to whom she re- counted all she had said to her husband and Lady Prescott. Almost immediately afterward, Editha and Gertrude took their departure, exulting in the success of the stratagem which had thus led to such a merciless exposure of the Earl of Curzon; and Horace himself did not remain much longer amidst the festive scene, but ordered his own carriage and returned to Carlton House. But was he contented at having met the Countess of Curzon there that night? Assuredly so; because she had given him the fondest assurances that at the earliest opportunity his hopes should be gratified and that she would abandon herself to him. Oh, these scenes of patrician depravity and aristocratic profligacy! Wherefore do we continue to pen them? Be- cause they are faithful refleetions, in the mirror of our narrative, of the vices, 1mmoralities, and crimes of that arrogant, heartless, and unprincipled class. Gomicbooks (ele) mn