The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 53: what you’re looking at

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

34 REYNOLDS’ WORKS I was certain that never did the faintest breath of scandal sully the fair fame of the lovely and virtuous Louisa, for supposing that those reports were correct, Louisa must have been the inmate of a boarding-school at the time her sister was pursuing an equivocal path. “T now take up the thread of my narrative, and will speedily bring it to a close. About a fortnight back I was seated with Louisa in a shady arbour in the garden, when we were suddenly surprised by the appearance of Mrs. Max- well. Her countenance was pale with rage, and she stood gazing upon us with fierce looks, — unable however for the first few moments to give utterance to a word. Louisa was overwhelmed with terror, and I myself was not devoid of confusion. At length I recovered a manly firmness, and I told Mrs. Maxwell that I was devotedly attached to her sister, that my intentions were honourable, and that I was ready to fulfil them as soon as circumstances would permit. She seemed on the point of giving vent to ejaculations of rage, and to level the bitterest reproaches at her sister, when, as if struck by a sudden thought, she became all in a moment calm, and bidding Louisa retire into the house, she remained to converse with me. She coldly asked me what were my prospects. I replied, ‘ You know that I am the heir presumptive of a wealthy baronet, and without further delay I will appeal to him for his assent to my mar- riage with your sister.’ She looked at me in a peculiar manner —a manner which I could not understand, and she said, ‘ If I had known the first day we met in the streets of Brighton who you were, I should never, never have given you that encouragement which you coldly rejected, and which subjected me to the deepest mortification that a woman can possibly experience.’ ‘This speech struck me as so strange that I stared at her in stupid amazement. ‘ It is of no use for you to con- tinue thus playing a part,’ she said, ‘ because you cannot deceive me. I know that from the very first you were aware who I was, and that therefore you rejected the ad- vances which under other circumstances a gay and hand- some young man would have willingly availed himself of when made by a woman who may flatter herself that she is not altogether deficient in personal beauty. I repeat that when first we encountered each other in the atreets, I ECORMICLIOOKS (E(0)