The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 231: what you’re looking at

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eI three days you will set out,” comtinned Lady | Saxondale, not appearing to pay the slightest heed gither to his observation or his laugh, “to under- take the duties of this honourable post which you are to fill To-morrow her Most Gracious Majesty holds a levee, on which occasion it is the desire of myself and your guardians that you be presented to kiss the royal hands.” “The royal fiddlesticks,” observed Edmund, with | at another jaugh. “To Kise the royal Dante 1 repost continued Lady Sexondale, eecentuating her words, “on re- eviving this appointment. The Foreign Secretary has kindly undertaken to present you. You will therefore lose no time in making all requisite ar- your presentation, and also for your departure. It is proposed by your guardians that two hundred pounds a month shall be peid you by a banker at Berlin to mect your current expenses: for of course you will proceed thither and also dwell there in a style becoming your rank. These are the communications that I haye to make; and I will add, Edmund, that I do most sincerely hope you will enter with a good spirit upon the course thus marked qat.” “ And what if I refuse to comply with these auto- cratic ukases which your ladyship has been issu- ing ?’ “I regret that you should compel me to enter into any explanation with regard to the alterna- tives: but if it must be so, they shall be described concisely, though firmly. Now listen :”—then after @ minute's pause which her ladyship made to give sulemacy to the proceeding, she said, “If you re- fuse to yield obedience to the wishes of your guar- dians and myself, it is the settled resolve of Lord Petersfield and Mr. Marlow to exert all the powers with which the law invests them; and those per- hape will be found to be greater and stronger than you have gn idea of. In the first place it will be by obedience to the Queen’s mandate may be followed by unpleasant consequences. In the second place, it is resolved by Lord Petersfield and Mr. Marlow that not another shilling shall be paid to you in the shape of allowance till you come of age, save and except under the conditions already laid duwn; and if you attempt to raise any money frog usurers, ad- vertisements will be inserted in th®*journals cau- tioning all such persons to beware how they deal with a minor.” “ Has my dear lady-mother anything more to gay?” asked Edmund, with an air of nonchalant indifference. “No , sir,’ was Lady Saxondale’s response : and she her seat as if to quit the room. * “ But I have something more to say—and a good deal too,” at once rejoined Edmund. “In the first place, it is not my Matention to quit England at all; aaa mererore you had better get Lord Potersfield 00 undo as quickly as he can all that he may have done in respect to this embassy-business. Secondly, you will have the kindness to send for Marlow and Malton, and tell them that if they dare attempt any coercive measures with me, they shall be made to suffer for it. Thirdly, sv far from stopping my allowance, you will at once get it doubled; and it will not then be necessary to put any advertisements THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURF. of the room while her son thus spokes; and a visible trouble came upon her—for she now saw by his meaner thas he die noe Sook Kimaeit so completely A Ed eared Bim to be. Perhaps cee eee oe a ERY secrets which seitated in her bosom? Bat if eo, which was it? Knowing how intimate he was with Lord Harold Staunton, it naturally occurred to her that the affair of the masquerade and the circumstances of the duel had bean revealed to him. od na eray sits” she said, conquering the out- ward appearance of her emotions, “by whose ad- vice are you acting, or upon what pillar are you supporting yourself, when thus coolly defying your mother—your guardians—even your ad “ If you must know,” retarned Edmund, “it may be as well to put you out of all You need pr‘: -:4.nk, my dear lady-mother, that all your trick...,,ve escaped my knowledge. I will mention a.nyame that perhaps may be sufficient to show you what I do know, and convince you of the prudence of leaving off your tyrannical conduct to- wards me.” “‘And that name, air?” asked Lady Saxondale, nerving herself to hear it without agitation: for she full well divined what name he was about to Kdmund looked with insolent hardihood in her face; and with a still more impudent kind of leer, he said boldly, “ Lord Harold Staunton.” “Ah, I understand you!” cried Lady Saxondale, assuming & look of sovereign contempt blended with haughty indignation. “That unhappy young man has had his wits turned by the duel——~” “A duct which my dear lady-mother was the secret means of provoking.” “You dare not repeat so base a calumny, vile boy !”” exclaimed her ladyship, for one moment be- coming livid with rage, and then turning the colour of a peony. “Calumny indeed?’ echoed Saxondale: “it is the truth—and I can @ it.” “You prove it?” cried her ladyahip: and her splendid dark eyes were rivotted with scrutinizing intentness upon her son. “Yes: prove it,—prove that you were the lady that I myself saw in tho Spanish dress at the masquerade—prove that you wrote the letter making the appointment with Harold there—prove like- wise that the name of William Deveril in another letter, or rather in a mere envelope, was penned by the same hand that wrote the first epistle! All these things can I prove as casy-———” “Edmund, is it possible that you believe the calumnies uttered by a worthless man liko Staunton, in preference to the solemn assurances of your mother ?” “Ah! but what about the dress?” cried Ed- mund, his countenance becoming wickedly malig- nant. “The dress?’ echoed her ladyship: and for an instant a suspicion of the truth flashed to her mind: but the next moment banishing it as untenable, she said coldly, “| do not comprehend you.” COMM at once. - NOOK CO