The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 395: what you’re looking at

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

mine own honest industry: but you—yes, you— the heir to the throne of these realms—are re- solved apon reducing me to misery, ruin, and de- spair! And, oh! blame me not if your own con- duct now wringe bitter and reproachfal words from my lips:—bat rather blame yourself for acting in a manner which compels me to remind your Roj;al Highness how cruelly—cruelly I have already saf- fered through you! Am I not an orpban — at the age of sixteen—deprived of those parents who loved me so well and whom I loved so tenderly im return ;—and does not their death lie at your door? O God! when I think of all this, my brain reels — my blood boils —and I feel diabolical thoughts springing up in my mind—as if I craved for vengeance—I, who have never even trodden upon a worm, much less inflicted an injury upon a human being !* And bending her head forward, the young maiden covered her face with her hands and bares into an agony of tears. The Prince stood irresolute: he knew not how to act. On the one hand he was maddened by the desire to possess that lovely girl who appeared to him even more than ever in the midst of the grief which convalsed her :—bat on the other hand the reproaches to which she bad just given utterance, raleed something like a feel- ing of remorse in his soul. Nearly a minute pessed, dering which his Royal Highness remained leaning against the door,—his eyes gloating upon the beauteous kneeling figure at his feet—aad his compunectious feelings waging & severe struggie with his burning desires. The violence of the orphan’s grief haviag thus leisure to subside somewhat and the poignancy of her anguish to receive a slight mitigation, she withdrew her bands from her countenance—raised her eyes timidly—and was instantly struck by the expression of hesitation and uncertainty which was legibly depicted upon the features of her perse- cutor. A gleam of hope flashed to her soul; and atarting to her feet, once more, she hastily wiped away the tears—those drops of diamond dew that gave sweetness and softness to the light of the eyes on whose long lashes they hung! “Your Royal Highness is touched by my appea),” she exclaimed, in a voice which was still broken by deep sabs, though during the intervals between thoue evidences of profoundly concentrated emotions it was tremuloualy clear and musically pathetic: “and you will not add to my afflictions by any eutrage or wrong! Consider my position, great Prince—and have mercy upon me! An orphan and friendless, I have no protector—no vindicator! Bitter, bitter, is my lot m this world, heaven knows—and yet gall may be added to that bitterness, and my sorrows may be enhanced to despair. For, as there is a God above us, I vow that if disgrace, and shame, and ruin should overtake me, I will not survive that crowning misery—that consummating woe! No— never—never: hut in a voluntary death—dark and terrible theugh the crime may be—will I end my wretched existence! Spare me, then—spare me, great Prince !—and let me depart hence in safety! Do this—and I will forgive you for the past—I will cease to look upon you as the cause of my parents’ death! Oh! spare me—spare me!—on my kneea on do T implore your Royal Highness to spare me “Will you hear me for a angle moment f° ex her as she was about to sink into a suppliant posture once more: then, ere the shriek of terroz which rose to her lips had time to burst forth, ne quitted the alight hold that be had laid upon her and resumed hie leaning attitude against the doer. “Now you perceive,” he ssid hastily, “that I am not unrea- sonable—that I can tutor myself to the exercise of forbearance~and that I deserve alike your attention and your patience.” “Speak, speak!" eried the trembling girl, casting down her eyes beneath the devouring looks of passion which be bent wpon her. “ What has your Royal Highness to aay to me f—wherefore can you not be generous and grent my prayer at oace f”’ “ Because I wish to make you a propossl, Rose,” was the immediate response; “and I ferveatly hope —nay, I conjure you —that it may receive a calm and serious consideration.” “ A proposal f” murmured the young orphan, with a cold shudder passing over her entire frame. “ What proposal ean the Prince of Wales have to make to an obscure, humble, and unhappy girl? Ob! none —none that is honourable and to which I ought to listen,” she added, with wildness in her voice, her looks, and her manner. “In the name of God, tzanquillise yourself—i only for a few minates !”’ exclaimed the Princa. “ For it is precisely because you are obacure, hamble, and unhappy that you should mot turn a deaf ear to the words which I am about te utter. And start not when I declare that inasmuch as you are beautiful, and good, and virtuous, 90 de I love, and esteem, and admire you. But marriage is impossible—you know that I cannot address you with truthfulness and sincerity on that point; and the time for prac- tising any duplicity or delusion towards yeu, is past! What, then, dol propose? That you should consent to be unto me as a wife, though without the name; and to you will I conduct myself as a tender and affectionate lover. Wealth, luxury, and pro- fusion shal] surround you: asplendid mansion shall be your residence—troope of menials shall attend upon you, ministering to your slightest wante—and when you roll through the park in your gorgeous equipage, who of all the beauties gathered there will be more envied, more admired, or more courted than the acknowledged mistress of the heir-apparent to the British throne?” The Prince had been suffered to proceed unin- terruptedly in his speech, because mingled shame and indignation had sealed the young virgia’s lips, —shame at the thought that her character should be so lightly estimated as even to warrant the an- dacious proposal thus made to her—ané indigna- tiom at the proposal itse'f! But as the Prince con- tinued in the development of his plan, a faintness crept upon the maiden’s heart—and anger gave way to terror, as the conviction was borne in unto her mind that the profligate persecutor was capable of any atrocity in order to obtain his ends. The colour came and went apon hee cheeks a dozen times in a minute as these successive feelings and emotions agitated her bosom :—bat when his Royal Highness beheld her pale countenance suddenly suffasing with a warm blush, he in his gross nature mistook the cause, and fancied that his proposal was received with an augmenting pleasure that had to struggle against virgic bashfulnese, COMM LOOO SS y