The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 204: what you’re looking at

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

DEATH 179 stances extraordinarily calculated to strike the heart with awe. But the dying nobleman himself — oh, what pen can describe the ghastliness of his countenance, the utter misery of his looks? His hair, which had only re- cently begun to turn gray, had actually grown many shades whiter during the last few hours. Instead of having the appearance of a man in the prime of life, he looked as if at least sixty winters had passed over his head. Lavinia and the clergyman, upon hearing the door ee close, quitted their kneeling postures, and tears gushed forth -from the eyes of both Christian and Christina on catching the first glimpse of the countenance of her who had so long borne the title of Duchess of Marchmont. All vital tint seemed to have fled from that countenance; even the very lips were of marble paleness. Its expression was so-haggard, sO care-worn, so woebegone, that even if she herself had been criminal it would have excited pity; but innocent in every respect as they knew her to be, it filled their hearts with anguish to look upon the face of that afflicted lady. The clergyman, a venerable man, bowed to the twins with the profoundest respect, and contemplated: them. with a mournful interest, for he had known their parents, ‘and he was indebted to their father for the incumbency which he held. The physician likewise saluted the young Duke of Marchmont and Lady Christina Vivian, but the dying nobleman covered his face with his thin wan hands, and eroaned audibly. Lavinia tried to speak, but she could not; He voice was choked with the intensity of her feelings, yet her eyes elo- quently proclaimed the gratitude she experienced for this visit of pardon which they paid to her perishing husband. As for that man himself, he also tried to give utterance to some words, and he essayed likewise to raise himself up in the couch, but the power of speech seemed to have gone from his palsied throat and that of motion from his tranced limbs. Another attempt on Lavinia’s part to say something to the young pair proved ineffectual, for the first sounds of the syllables that wavered on her lips died away in a spasm of intensest agony which excruciated her whole frame. She burst into tears, and seizing the hand of each of the twins, she pressed them by turns to her lips. Christina threw her arms around :Lavinia’s neck and wept passionately upon her COniuicloooks (C(O)