The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 186: what you’re looking at

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THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. All this being done, she dcliberated with herself what course to pursue. Should she sit up, keep awake, and watch to see if the mysterious shape (whether apparition or living being) would revisit herP ‘Yes: this was her decision, notwithstanding sho felt exhausted and in need of repose. She would not entrust herself to the luxurious softness of the oasy chair, lest sleep should overtake her unawares: but she sat down in a common chair, on the alert to cast her eyes to any part of the room whence the alightest sound might emanate. Pre- sently however she felt a drowsiness stealing over ber; and then in order to shake it off she rose up from her seat and paced to and fro. She snuffed 178 and her eyes swept round the room to sce if any open door showed the means by which he had ob- tamed admittance: but the survey was vain—and it seemed to her as if he had sprung up from the very floor beneath her feet. “Oharming Henrietta,” said the nobleman, “ this passion will not serve you. Foolish girl that you are to refuse all the brilliant advantages which I offer you, but whieh nevertheless shall be yours in spite of yourself-—” “Coupled with infamy !” murmured Henrietta in a hoaree but resolute voice. “No, my lord—never, never !” “ Let us sit down and converse tranquilly,” saic the candle, so that there should be no dimness : the nobleman. “ You perceive that you are in ny wherein she might be taken by surprise; and as power——” time wore on she grew more nervous, more anxious. | “Lord Everton, I command you to quit this The village-church proclaimed twelve; and Hen- | room!” interrupted Henrietta, flinging round ler rietta stood still to count the strokes, so thet she | eyes in search of some weapon of defence. “ You might be assured of the right hour. The metallic may use force, my lord—but the strugyle will be a soand of the iron of Time rolled oscillating h the still air of the night;—but mingling | with the last vibrations of that sound, there seemed desperate one.” “In which you must suscamb!” exclaimed the old nobleman: and maddoned by his passion, ji to be the mournful lament of a human voice. Hen- suddenly sprang forward and caught the youu y rietta listened with a sudden feeling of awe; and she | Captive in his arms. could distinctly hear a prolonged lamentation—not | Aé that instant a third person appeared upon the loud, but still plain and unmistakable. Allin an ' scene—gliding in swift as a fleeting shadow — so instant this was broken by a wild thrilhng cry-—— good heavens, what a cry! that seemed to rend the whole edifice in twain. It ceased—all was still— but the poor girl sank trembling with affright into suddenly, so , that Henrietta, especially in the trouble and excitement of her mind, saw not whence he came and observed not how. But sho did in an instant recognize this shape: it was the the easy chair, which was the nearest to her at the | one she had twice seen before—the one envelope monient. in the flowing gown and with the pale ead face; but Her heart beat with such loud palpitations that | the features now wore a fierce and terrible expres- she could hear them as if a clenched hand were thumping against the cushioned mde of the chair in which she was now reclining. Every fibre. and nerve in her frame seemed galvanized with the sen- sation of terror. But gradually this feeling eub- sided ; and she thought to herself that instead of ex- periencing alarm on her own account, she ought to feel sympathy on that of the unhappy wretch whose lament and shriek she had heard. All continued still and tranquil: the silence which had followed that appalling cry had something dread and stupon- dous in it. Henrietta sat in the easy ehair, wonder- ing what it could all mean, and associating in her mind those lamentations and that cry with the noises to which Mrs. Martin had alluded, and the whole with the visitations sho had received in her chamber. There is a terror the excess of which produces a re-action that merges into a lulling effect,—the na- tural stupor which inevitably follows the extreme tension of all the nerves. Thus was it with Hen- ristta Leyden, and insensibly did a sort of dreamy repose steal upon her as she reclined in that arm- chair to which she had in tho first instanee been so fearful of entrusting herself. Her sleep was not however sound. It was that kind of dosing in which consciousness is not alto- gether lost, but confused and hazy,—a sort of semi- aleep from which the slightest sound will startle one. And thus was Henrietta all m a moment arousod into complete wakefulness; and springing up from the chair, she beheld some one in her room. But it was not the mysterious figure of the two former nighte: it was Lord Everton. “Wretch {* eziod Henrietta im wildest alarm ; sion. “ Monater!” was the single word whieh fell upon Henrietta’s ear, and whieh was addressed to Lord Everton, who had instantaneously relinquished his hold on her: and the utterance of that word was accompanied by a terrific blow dealt by the new comer, and which laid the old nobleman prestrate and senseless on the floor. “This way, this way!” said the stranger, quickly grasping Henrietta’s wrist, and thus proving that he was indeed a being of flesh and bicod. Then quick as thought he led her round the foot of the bed to an opening in the wall, through which they both darted; and now Henrietta found her- self in a corridor communicating with a staircase which she saw at a glance was not the principal one of the mansion, nor one which she had seen befare. A lamp burnt in that corridor, and another on the staircase, down which Henrietta was hurried by her companion. With such mad precipitation did he proceed, that i¢ was a wonder he was not hurled to the bottom, dragging her along with him; and full evident was it that ho know ¥ to be a desperate attempt at escape whieh thoy were thus making. A vain one too! Forall in a moment the rushing noise of several footsteps was heard. “Seitse them ! seize them |” were the words which reached the ears of the fugitives; and in another moment they were encountered by Mark Bellamy, the footman, Mra. Martin, Susan, and the gardener, who all emergod from snother corridor joining that same stairease oe. the lower storey. With a desperate blow from his clenched Sst, Mark Bellamy struck down Henristia’s eompanica ; ae gory g>-~dasUISLDNNSUSSIG SEEDED, | GOnMGOOOKS (CO