The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 356: what you’re looking at

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

THE FIVE THOUSAND GUINEAS O20 is addressed,’’ at once began Editha, a dead pallor appearing beneath the transparent duskiness of her complexion, and her entire frame quivering like a harp-string. ‘““ Yes,” said the earl, with a smile of satanic triumph, ‘“it is addressed to her ladyship the Countess of Curzon.”’ ‘‘ Then give it to me,” said Editha, advancing toward him. “ Softly, softly,’’ he said, waving her back with one hand as he clutched the precious packet with the other. ‘‘ As your husband, madam, I assert the right of opening this parcel, and that right I intend to exercise.’’ “You dare not!’ said Editha, in a faint and dying voice. ‘““ Behold! ” he exclaimed, with sardonic malice in the look that he flung upon his writhing, agonizing wife, and tearing open the parcel, he exclaimed, “‘ Hah! bank-notes, and what a pile of them! Nothing could have arrived more seasonably, for I have a number of pressing debts to pay.” “Good heavens! you do not, you cannot mean that you will appropriate that money? ”’ gasped the wretched Editha, and staggering back, she would have fallen had she not been caught in the arms of Gertrude, who placed her upon the sofa. ‘““ If the money be sent to you,”’ continued the earl, ‘‘ then it is yours, and whatever is yours is mine. This is the marriage law. But here is a letter enclosed, which will doubtless throw some light on the subject.”’ | The Countess of Curzon, goaded to desperation, sprang to her feet in order to rush upon her husband and tear the letter from his hand, but a vertigo suddenly seized upon her, and she fell back again, not deprived of consciousness, but with a maddening sensation of bewilderment in the brain. The earl, rejoicing in his wife’s agony, the extent of which he failed not to observe, tore open the letter, and in a voice of terrible irony read the following lines: “ I forward you, my adored one, the amount promised, and pray you to lose no time in despatching it to the proper quarter. Gertrude will have explained everything to you, and I am sure you will agree that it is far better for you to appear as the principal agent in this matter than for me to yield to the villain’s threats. Yours ever affectionately.” “No name, eh?” exclaimed the earl. ‘ But there is no difficulty in guessing who is the writer. In fact, I know CoOnnicloooks (C(O)