The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 264: what you’re looking at

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

THE SELF-SACRIFICE DEMANDED 237 ‘Cannot force you?” she interrupted him. ‘ And what if I myself proclaim the truth? What if I declare — ”’ “Who will believe you, Ethel?” interrupted Adolphus. ‘What would my answer be? That it was a tale devised by an unhappy woman, goaded almost to frenzy by her position, — a tale devised for the purpose of palliating her fault before the world.”’ ‘And you would do all this, Adolphus? ” said the count- ess, gazing upon him with an expression so strange, so wild, so sinister, that when he thought of it afterward, he could not possibly fathom what its precise meaning might have been. He did not immediately give any answer. Though in one sense he felt his position to be a tolerably strong one so far as the revelation of the secret of his birth might be concerned, yet, on the other hand, he was far from being at his ease in respect to a woman who in the present as well as in recent circumstances had displayed a mental energy, a resoluteness, a determination of which she had seemed incapable in those times when she was the soft, the tender, the yielding, fond partner of his guilty love. He therefore saw that everything must be done to conciliate or appease the countess, if possi- ble, short of the absolute concession of that which she had demanded; and his ideas remained fixed upon the project of defying the world and its opinions, of making her his mis- tress again, or even of marrying her if she thought fit, — anything, in a word, so long as he might place a seal upon her lips with regard to the one tremendous secret that might give him much trouble and annoyance, even if it did not ultimately tear him down altogether from the pedestal of rank and fortune. While these reflections were passing through the mind of Adolphus, Ethel had turned aside and was again meditating profoundly. Her countenance was of the most ashy pallor, her features were rigid; a sinister light burned steadily in those eyes that had once beamed only with love and tender- ness. The bosom which had been wont to palpitate with the softest and most voluptuous sensations was now upheaved and perfectly still. She was motionless as a statue, but all that was passing within rendered her very indifferent indeed from the sculptured marble’s inanimation. Adolphus re- garded her with a furtive and uneasy look, and when she at CORNICLOOKS (CO)