The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 38: what you’re looking at

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

THE DUKE AND HIS MISTRESS 21 tounded at this act of extravagance,— an extravagance which was more wilful and wanton than any whereby he had previously found himself victimized on Mrs. Oxenden’s account. Accordingly, on the following day, at about the hour of noon, he proceeded to the residence of his new mistress, with the firm resolution of remonstrating against her conduct. She expected this visit, and she was pre- pared to give Marchmont such a reception as she deemed most suitable under the circumstances. It was by no means her intention to wheedle or to cajole him, or to take the trouble of condescending to blandishments; she had assumed the attitude of an imperious mistress from the very first, a mistress in two senses of the term, and she did not feel inclined to step down from her pedestal. She was apparelled in a dark dress which set off the symmetry of her shape to the fullest advantage of its superb contours, and she felt all a woman’s pride in the consciousness of her grand beauty. The duke, feeling that circumstances had become ex- ceedingly serious, had summoned all his courage to his aid, and on entering the apartment where Mrs. Oxenden received him, he at once broached the purport of his visit. “You drew heavily upon me yesterday,” he saad, “ and it was at least very inconsiderate to take such a step with- out previously consulting me. It might have happened that I had not sufficient in my bankers’ hands to meet the cheque which I was at once compelled to draw.” “And doubtless your bankers would have anetned it all the same,”’ said Mrs. Oxenden, with a species of haughty composure. “But I would not overdraw them for the world,” an- swered theduke. ‘‘ That is not, however, the precise question. It is whether or not — ” ‘‘ There is no question at all,” interrupted Mrs. Oxenden. “On the night that you and I were so strangely thrown together, you said to me, ‘ You are poor, I will make you rich; there is nothing you can ask which I will not grant, — money in abundance, riches, gold, and gifts.” These were your promises. Are you fulfilling them when you play the part of a niggard for a few thousand pounds? It is- not the first time that you have made a grimace on account of my purchases, and it would seem, therefore, as if we did CORnNICLOOOKS (S©@)