The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 31: what you’re looking at

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a NN lo THB MYSTERIES. love for the innocent babe; and, contemplating it with mournfal and passionate affection, her coun- tenance was for a few instants animated with the blushfal glow of strange inward exultation. Bat, alas! she was compelled to resign the hapless habe to the care of strangers,—to separate from it it at once and for ever! The sacrifice him —disowning was torturing to her soul : but there was no alterna- tive—no cholce;—and when the child was gently taken from her by Mrs. Smith, the wretched parent covered her face with her fair white hands and burst into an agony of weeping. In a few minutes the unconscious cause of all this mental suffering was carefully enveloped in thick shawls: and Matilda, bearing it in her arms, accom- panied the surgeon to his own abode. On her return she was enabled to give the young mother the con- solatory assurance that Mrs. Thurston had already provided a wet-nurse for the infant, and that every tion had been made to give a suitable recep- tion to the little stranger. . On the following morning, while it was yet dusk, a plain travelling-carriage Mrs. Mordaunt, well wrapped up to guard her as much as possible against cold, was conveyed into the vehicle. Mrs. Smith followed her—Matilda took her place an the box by the side of the valet Pem- broke, who was in attendance—and the equipage drove rapidly away ig a northern direction. We should observe that the two ladies had not for- gotten to express their gratitude to the sisters for the hospitality which they had experienced at the villa: and Mrs. Smith promised to cal] upon them as early gs circumstances would permit. CHAPTER VL we. PAGE AKD MR. HODSON.--THE BOW STREET OFFICER. We must now return to Mr. Page, whom we left at the George and Blue Boar, Holborn, just after he had been aroused from his slumbers by the addle- pated constables from Aylesbury. . Having hastily dressed himeelf, the commercial traveller descended in no very pleasant humour to the public room, where he ordered breakfast; and as be ae eatsely an the con there sat the time, ne was irely on the companionship of his yeflections, These were far from being of an agreeable natuse. Page was placed embarreas- it very delay. But how was he to make his appearance st their counting-house, and not offer to place’in thelr hands the bills of exchange which he had receiver from their provincial correspondents? He dares not confess that he had been robbed of those docu- ments: for even if Hodson and Morley did not sus- pect his honesty, they would be sure to blame his carelesenese—and his discharge from their employ- ment must inevitablv follow. What was he to do? He was more than half in- clined to keep away from Wood Street until the mer- row, hoping in the mean time to recover his pocket- book; for it must be observed that he possessed a friend from whom he well knew he could borrow the fifty guineas requisite to redeem it, and he felt assured that the robber would keep to his agreernente the bills of exchange being of no possible value to On the other hand, if he did delay his visit to the of Messrs. Hodson and Morley, he was certain to be questioned upon the sabject ; and a plea of tem indispositian was not likely to avail | him with gentlemen of such business-habits as his employers. In a state of ccmplete bewilderment did Mr. Page sit down to his breakfast. He inwardly cursed Sit : Ss iage drove up to the door; and sundry seems good to the appetite or mind. He denounced the coffke as ditch-water— bacon as musty—the eggs ag tasting of straw—and the butter as train-oil; and he was just inflicting a sassarara upon the waiter for not keeping up a cheer fal fire, when the door opened, and, to the ineffable dismay of the commercial traveller, Mr. Hodson em» tered the room. . The senior partner in one of the jergest commer- cial firms in Wood Street, was a man of about fifty years of age, and was dressed in the fashion of what was the “old school” at that period. He wore powder and a pig-tail, a square cut coat, knee-breeches and gaiters, and a waistcoat with large flaps over the hips: a massive gold chain with a number of seals depended to his fob; and he carried a gold-headed cane in his hand. In person he was short and stout: his coun- tenance, though with the roundness and redness usually indicative of good humour, was somewhat stern in expression; and his Jook was cold, business- like, and even suspicious. Such waa the individual who now made his un- welcome in the coffee-room; and the marked the confusion which seddenly selse spose that individyal. | Afféctthg, however, not to notice the unaccount- an rt oh 048 CGiaBpea- FB * ge sme COLT ©) DOOKSHEOIn _d