The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 122: what you’re looking at

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

okie: = aya ey tee to the mouth where the choloest of all earthly sweets wore to be culled. Bat, maddened with desire, the Prince pressed the glowing bosom that swelled yet more exube- rantly to the contact of hia daring hand: yét when he sought to invade its treasures more boldly and still, and when he essayed to profit by . oumplotely the yieldiog weakness and meiting tondéracss of the agitated, trembling, aimost bulploss Venetla,— when, in fine, he endeavoured to overcome the last obstacles that lay between himself and complete happiness,—he was suddenly disappointed and baffled by the foree with which she started and disengaged herself from his arme. Then retreating to the end of the sofa, and half ‘turning her back towards him, Venetia arranged her hair and disordered dress in profound silence : bat the rapid heavings of her bosom showed how deeply she was agitated. “ Are you angry with me, beloved Venetia # in- quired the Prinoe, in a low and tender voice. “Qh! no—no,” she exclaimed, suddenly turning towards him: then, fixing her beauteous blue eyes upon his countenance, and taking his hand of her own scocord, she said, “In becoming your's, I make a certain sacrifice—and before I surrender myself entirely up to you, I must enter into a few words of xplanation e for my own sake. For it cannot do otherwise than seem strange that I should acoept your overtures all in a moment and consent with- out reflection to become yous mistress. Were I to tell you that the instant you entered this house, you inspired me with a love which proved stronger than myself, you would not believe me. No—you could not and you ought not to put faith in such a tale, were I weak or deceptive enough to tell it. Then how can you account for the readiness with which I have entered into this compact with you? You must either believe me to be grandly am- bitious, or a profligate wanton. But as there is a heaven above us, ] sm not the latter. My lips were virgin of man’s kisses until you pressed them just now: and never until this hour did the blush of shame giow upon my cheeks. It Js, then, that I am ambitious— that, as you yourself have ex- pressed it, I would sooner be the mistress of a Prince who is almost 9 King, than the wife of the proudest peer in Great Britain. Such is the feel- ing—such the sentiment which has inspired me upon the present occasion, Give me a lofty po- aition, sir—and I will be to you the most faithful, the most affectionate, the most devoted of women. Bat I require a title to embellish my name —riches so support that title—and all the distinction which ean possibly be paid to your acknowledged mis- tress. Pardon me for mentioning a name which saay haply recall unpleasant recollections to your maind—but Mrs. Fitzherber$ was your acknow. ledged mistress, and she was surrounded by vene- ration, respect, and honour. It is to such a position that I wish to be elevated. Consent to my demands, and I am your’e—only your’s—unal- terably yours: refuse me, or even hesitate to compl within the hour thgt is now passing I” “Venetia,” answered the Prince, who had ample leisure during this long and seriously-delivered speech to reflect upon all the statements it made and the stipulations it contained,“ I will deal as frankly with you as you have done with me. You spoke of the position of Mrs. Fitzherbert—and you expressed a desire to assume a similar one. But remember that at the time Mrs. Fitzherbert was living openly with me at Carlton House, I was as yet urimarried; and a certain gloss was thrown over our connexion by the ramour that we were privately united in the bonds of matrimony. Cir- cumstances are now altered. 1 am married—and no such shadow of an apology could be found for any new connexion which I may form. Moreover, although separated from my wife—and having no reason to vespect, much less love that miserable wontan,”—and the Prince spoke with a virulent acerbity of manner,—“ yet I dare not so far outrage all decency as to live openly once more with 2 mistress at Carlton House. Were you married, Venetia, it would be a different thing. I could appoint your husband to an office in my house-~ hold; and by virtue of that office he would have his suite of apartments at Carlton Palace, where you might dwell with him, without exciting the outcry of scandal. At all events, under such circumstances public opinion could be easily de- fied. But you are unmarried——”" “ Should you love me the less if I were married?” asked Venetia, hastily: and she gazed him with tender earnestness “ee “Love you the less, dearest!” exclaimed the Prince. “No—that were impossible!"—and be tert his arms about her neck.’ us converse seriously,” she sald, gently dis- engaging herself from his embrace. Would you Ifke me to be married ?” “Yes—if the husband were complaisant and closed bis eyes upon oar amouss,” seturaed the Prince. “But such husbands are not always to be found—at least not ina hurry. You camot pick and choose them very easily.” “TI will be married in less than a week, sir,” ex- claimed Miss Trelawney: “and to such a husband as you have described.” _ “What! you have already one in reserve, my darling &* cried the Prince Regent, with a smite. “But are you serious, Venetia?” “Never was I more so,” she anewered. “If you give your consent to the arrangement, I promise you to carry it into effect. And for more reasons than one should I rejoice at it,” she continued in a tone of deep deliberation and pensivenese: “for & would save my reputation—it would spare my relatives a pang, if they ever learnt-——-But enough of that !* she cried, suddenly checking herself and dashing away a tear that had started forth apon her long lashes. “ Do you, I ask, consent to the arrangement that has been suggested f” “1 prefer it to any other,” responded the Prines : “the more so, because as you stipulated fora title of nobility, I can devise or find out same feasible ground for conferring a peerage upon the husband whom you may choose—whereas a title conferred upon yourself, as a single woman, would at once stamp you as my mistress and provoke a murmur throughonat the country. Not that I care much for the opinion or the hostility of the people: the cannon, thank God! will always put down discontent—aad the British Government has never yet been at a less for faithful generals who would as soon mow dewn a mob as receive their pension for doing it. i say, then, my charming Venetis, that I approve of your arrangement—and thus do I again ratify ous bar- COUMIUC EKA MYSTEMES OF THE COURT. | 109 a ce Ne AOC CO