The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 175: what you’re looking at

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

154 REYNOLDS’: WORKS sat next to Amy Sutton, on the right hand of the throne, and when that individual took off his mask, he revealed the countenance of Wilson Stanhope. His countenance ex- pressed a species of terror as if the man himself entertained but a vague idea of how all these proceedings would termi- nate, and was therefore by no means assured that exposure to the whole world would not ensue and that condign punish- ment would not overtake himself. ) ‘““ And now I will speak to you,”’ continued Queen Indora, ‘‘ of a darker crime than even those to which I have alluded, — a crime which, when designed by you, was not altogether frustrated by circumstances, but which was so far carried into effect that it struck a fellow creature, though not the one whom it was meant to strike, namely, myself. Prisoner, it was at your instigation that the assassin blow was dealt in the garden of my villa residence, and here is a witness who can testify to the discourse which subsequently took place between yourself and the agent of your iniquity.” Thus speaking, Queen Indora made a sign for the female on her left hand to remove the veil which covered her counte- nance, and when this was done, the duke beheld Mrs. Oxen- den. He was not altogether without a suspicion that she indeed was the veiled female who sat in that place, but when the suspicion was turned into certainty, he felt a horrible tightening at the heart, for it seemed to him as if even those whom his gold had maintained in luxury were arraying them- selves against him. This idea is always a harrowing one for the individual who feels that the ground is slipping away beneath his feet, because it is: frightfully ominous of the crowning catastrophe. Thus the presence of Mrs. Oxenden there, his own pensioned mistress, was indeed another blow that struck upon the heart of the Duke of Marchmont more severely than the two preceding ones dealt through the medium of Amy Sutton and Wilson Stanhope. “ But if that testimony be not sufficient,’ continued Queen Indora, after a pause of more than a minute, “ there is one here present who can give ampler evidence. That man has confessed everything, and if it be needful, the world may know how you, prisoner, suborned him to deal the assassin blow which, though intended for myself, nevertheless smote the bosom of the unfortunate Sagoonah. He can tell like- wise how you visited him in his dungeon-cell, when. he was a CORNICE IOOLKKS (E(©)