The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 68: what you’re looking at

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

CHRISTINA’S ADVENTURES 49 which Madame Angelique and her male accomplice thought it best to beat a retreat, — the infamous woman having hastily slipped a couple of sovereigns into the cabman’s hand. The crowd had passed around toward the handsome carriage to which Christina was now consigned; no opposi- tion was therefore offered to the flight of the Frenchwoman and her accomplice, who, we may as well observe, was her own footman, dressed in plain clothes. Lord Octavian Meredith’s equipage drove off, and the crowd remained to question the cabman as to the meaning of these proceedings, but he, apprehensive of unpleasant consequences on his own account, vowed and protested he knew nothing more than that he had been hailed a short way off by the party, and that the young girl had apparently stepped into the vehicle without any reluctance on her own side. Meantime the young nobleman’s equipage was rolling away toward the Regent’s Park, and his arm supported the inanimate form of the beloved Christina. What unexpected happiness for the adoring Octavian! Would the reader believe us if we were to profess ignorance as to whether he imprinted a kiss upon her cheek? It were contrary to all knowledge of human nature to suppose that he abstained. Yet though they were alone together inside the carriage, and she was unconscious of what was passing, 1t was with the purest delicacy he sustained her inanimate form; he did not press it with passionate vehemence in his arms; his love for the beauteous Christina was indeed of a holy char- acter, apart from his position as the husband of another, which alone rendered that love unholy. And now we may resume the thread of our narrative at the point where we interrupted it to give the preceding ex- planations. Christina and Lord Octavian were alone together in the apartment, — she seated as if transfixed upon the chair, he standing near her, bending slightly down, and breathing inquiries tenderly respectful, as to whether she felt better. ‘““My lord,’ she answered, slowly recovering her self- possession, “I have to thank you for the service you have rendered me. I cannot comprehend the meaning of the outrage which dragged me from my home; nor can I conceive who were its perpetrators. But that is of little consequence now, since I am indebted to your lordship for my safety. CORnNICLOOOKS (CO)