The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 203: what you’re looking at

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

=n. wh gu duly and formally charged to conduct the nego- tiation. Accordingly, this important plenipotentiary— doubtless fancying himself no méan imitation of the astate diplomatist Talleyrand —returned to Jocelyn’s sitting-room; and the moment he made his appearance, his looks proclaimed the success ef his enterprise. Loftus was well pleased thereat, and cheerfully paid the promised fee of ten louis, which the waiter still more joyfully consigned to his pocket. Jocelyn then retired to his bed-qhamber, and soon fell asleep, to dream of his beloved and lovely Louisa: while, on the other hand, Mra. Ran- ger and her three fair charges sought their own apartments, well pleased with the prospect of an agreeable travelling-companion daring their jour- ney to Paris. On the following morning Mr. Loftus received au invitation to breakfast with the ladies: and he was forthwith conducted to the room in which they were assembled. At the first glance which he threw upon Agatha, Emma, and Julia, the senti- ment of mingled pity and indignation was deep- ened in his soul to think that such beautiful creatures should have become entangled in such detestable intrigues. He was however far from suspecting that beneath the air of lively, good- tempered artiessness which was natural to them, and which corrupting influences had not as yet ma- terially impaired, there lurked all the nascent ten- dencies and inclinations towards that thorough depravity which the denizens of fashionable life are 90 skilled in veiling with smiles, affability, and the glitter of fascinating manners—as the hideous- neas of a corpse may be concealed with dowers. He believed them to be the unconscious and be- guiled victims, rather than the now willing instru- ments, of the vilest machinations: and little sus- pecting that even their very maiden virtue and personal chastity had been sacrificed in the course of execrable training which they had undergone, he hoped to rescue them from the ways of in- trigue and dishononr and render them worthy, as they were certainly brilliant, members of society. Such were the thoughts which swept through the mind of Jocelyn Loftus on his introduction to the Misses Owen: but as for Mra. Ranger, he ex- perionced a thorough and unmitigated contempt for her ere he had been three minutes in her society. Not that he at once saw into the depths of her character: but he read enough, through the veil of plausibility wherewith she invested her words and her manners, to assure himself that she was false, hollow-hearted, vain, and cunning. This feeling of dislike he however studiously con- cealed: for it by no means suited his purpose to make an enemy of that lady at the very outset of their acquaintance. The impression which his own appearance pro- dueed upon the ladies was at once of the most favonrable character. His exceedingly handsome person, endowed with all the beauty and graces of youthful manhood— his elegant manners — the tones of his voice—and the unaffected yet fasci- nating style of his conversation and choice of language, could not fail to prove agreeable to an old coquette and three lively, animated, and im- passioned girls. He was accordingly received with an evident welcome, whose warmth was only sub- THE MYSTERIEG OF THE COURT. dued by that habit of external formality which was rather practised from the ceremonial usages of drawing-rooms than really felt in all its rigid reserve. The conversation at the breakfast-table was sprightly and sparkling: but the meal was some- what hurried as the chaise was announced to be in readiness even before the party sate down. Then came the hurry and bustle of the prelim’ naries for departure: but as Jocelyn attended t& the disposal of the luggage, a world of trouble, as Mrs. Ranger observed to the girls, was fortunately taken off their hands. French travelling carriages, or berlines, are spa- cious and commodious vehicles, containing six per- sons inside without the necessity of much crowding. There was consequently ample room for the whole party. Mrs. Ranger and Julia occupied the back seat: Jocelyn was placed between the .two elder girls on the front one. He had Agatha on his right hand, and Emma on his left: but though in such charming contact, his heart wavered not in its allegiance to the loved and absent Louisa—and he felt that it never would. Much rather would he have been at this moment with his betrothed; bus he had undertaken a certain duty—and his present position was only one of the inevitable phases of that enterprise in which he had so generously and chivalrously embarked. The equipage rolled out of the court-yard of Dessin's hotel—the drawbridge of the ramparts was crossed——and the vehicle, drawn by four horses with two postilions, entered on the broad road leading to Boulogne. Mrs. Ranger now thought it high time to let Jocelyn know that her three fair charges were proceeding to Italy in order to enter the service of the Princess of Wales: whereupon the young gentleman observed that he also was bound on a visit to the same sunny clime, giving his hearers to understand that his was a tour of recreation and pleasure, although in the first in- stance he had some important business to transact in Paris. The eyes of the young ladies shone with unmis- takable joy when they thus heard that their new acquaintance was proceeding all the way to Italy; and Mrs. Ranger inquired how long he purposed to remain in the French capital He answered that a couple of days would suffice for the business which he had to conclude in that city: whereupon Agatha remarked how singular it was that they also intended to limit their halt in Paris to an equally brief period. The observation was too significant not to be seized upon as available for Jocelyn’s purpose; and he expressed a hope that he might be permitted the honour of eacorting the ladies as far as their destination in Italy. The proposition was received with many expressions of gratitude and much evident delight: but Jocelya was somewhat surprised as well as secretly vexed and annoyed, when he observed that Agatha, the eldest sister, gazed upon him with a certain sub- dnued tenderness as she breathed her thanks for the proposal he had just made. He could not even help looking earnestly at her for a moment in order to assure himself that he had rightly interpreted the meaning of her gaze: but as her eyes fell beneath his own, anda fieet- ing blush appeared upon her cheeks, he faucied that he must have been deceived, and regretted a ae eee ® COMME MOO CO