The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 43: what you’re looking at

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

26 REYNOLDS’ WORKS planned the commodious dwelling, though in the ¢éase of Mrs. Oxenden we shall speedily find that the flight of stairs just alluded to served another purpose. She was in the midst of her contemplation of the dia- monds when her ear caught the sound of a door gently opening and shutting, and a smile appeared upon her countenance. ‘There was a light step traversing the bath- room; the velvet curtain was partially put aside for a moment, and an elegant young gentleman revealed him- self to the eyes of the lady. But not unknown to her was he, nor was he an unwelcome intruder there. On the con- trary, she at once received him in her arms, and as she caressed him with all the burning enthusiasm of her im- passioned temperament, she said, ‘‘ Dearest, dearest Alexis! ”’ ‘“ You see that I have availed myself of your permission as well as of the key,’ responded the visitor, as he returned those caresses. He was perhaps one of the most beautiful youths on whom the eyes of woman ever rested lovingly. He was not above one and twenty, and possessed features so deli- cately chiseled that if he had been dressed up in feminine garb he might easily have passed as a lovely specimen of the fair sex. His face was altogether beardless; his hair was of a rich brown, and curled naturally; his eyes were of a violet blue; his lips somewhat full, but perfectly well shaped. His figure, which was exceedingly slender, was of the most elegant symmetry; he had a sweet, musical voice, and he knew how to modulate its tones to the tenderest language of love. Before continuing the thread of our narrative, we may observe that Alexis Oliver was the youngest son of a country gentleman of some property, and having renounced the profession of the bar, for which he was originally intended, he had led an idle and dissipated life as a young man about town. The allowance he received from his family was exceedingly small, and having fallen in with Mrs. Oxenden, he gladly accepted her overtures, and yielded to an amour that, so far from costing himself anything, appeared to promise to become the means of filling his purse. In plain terms, so far from Alexis Oliver having to keep his mistress, it was the mistress who pro- posed to keep him as her paramour. As in complicated machinery there are wheels within wheels, so in respect CORIIE OC <S (E(©)