The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 214: what you’re looking at

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

THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. Statue-like did Indora stand close by the couch -—-with upheaved bosom breathlessly listening to whatecever might first coherently come from Sagoonah’s lips. Again did the ayah move her earme, as if with a feverish uneasiness; and the Queen was about to soothe her with the mesmeric influence of caresses again, when the ayah spoke intelligibly and plainly, though feebly and in broken words. “ Yes—I did it all!—the wickedness was mine !” she thus murmuringly said. “But it was that fiend —the Frenchwoman<~who prompted me! Ob, why did I listen to her? For all the plotting was against my dear good mistress—~my mistress -———the plotting-——Indora——-my mistress |” Now Segoonah opened her large dark eyes: she almost immediately closed them again; and for a few instants it appeared as if she were dead, so breathlessly silont did she lie. The Queen was alarmed, and her hand upon Sagoonah’s bosom : but the heart was beating within. Again did the eyah slowly open her eyes, and look up vacantly at the countenance that was bending over her. Thus for upwards of a minute did she gase at her royal mistress; and when she closed her eyes again, i¢ was without any sudden glitter to show that she had recognised the countenance which thus bent over her. But once more did her tongue give utterance to feebly articulated and broken sen- tences; and once more did the Queen listen with breathless attention. “Yes—it was that fiend the Frenehwoman— Madame Angelique,” continued Sagoonah, “who did it all. Ah! that night—-when I penetrated into the Queen’s chamber—the intent was horrible —it was to take her life! Christina saved her! Yes-—the English girl saved my mistress on that occasion—or she would have been dead, dead !” There was another long interval of silence, during which Indora listened in a state of dis- mayed and horrified suspense for whatsoever might next come from Sagoonah’s lipe. “Ab! that temptrese—that vile, vile woman !” again murmured Sagoonah: “it was she who urged me on!—Oh!” and here the ayah shuddered visibly, and with a violence that shook the very bed beneath her, “ how could I have touched that reptile? Its fangs might have entered my flesh! -—its venom might have circulated in my veins! Ab, my poor mistress !—that day you took me to the gardens—the gardens—the—the———” The rest of the sentence was lost in incoherent murmurings: but Sagoonah had said enough to send a light horribly flashing in unto the brain of the Queen, clearing up in 8 moment the mystery of that serpent’s presence within the walls of the villa some little while back. Indora was shocked —appailed: the revelation was as frightful as it was unexpected. Sagoonah, conscience-stricken even in her unconsciousness, was thus giving a species of subdued delirious vent to the terrific in- cidents of guilt which weighed upon her soul. “The messengers from India came at the mo- ment,” continued the ayah, in the same murmuring broken accents as before: “the reptile was in the couch—all was prepared—death was in its sting— venom in its fangs: but heaven would not permit my mistress to perish then! Take it from me— take it from me, that hideous reptile!—Ob, take it, take it from me! Oh, oh!” 203 Again was Sagoonah’s form convulsed with a violent shudder: the bed shook under her—she writhed upon the couch—she half-turned round in spasmodic convulsion: again were her arms tossed and agitated wildly. This time Indora had not the presence of mind to apply her soothing influ- ence: she was transfixed to the spot with the horror that like a night-mare filled her soul. This last revelation from Sagoonah’s lipe, in respect to the cobra di capello, was so frightfully incredible— and yet all circumstances combined to prevent it from being for a single moment disbelieved ! “That English girl—Christina Ashton,” con- tinued Sagoonah, in feebler and more broken ac- cents than those in which she had last spoken, “ is an angel inearthly form! She has told me of the angele of her creed—and she is one——she has spoken of herself! She is the Good Genius of my mistress: her presence is a talisman against all evil to Indora. No, no, vile woman !———no, no, Madame Angelique! I will do nothing more to Indora! Christina’s presence saves her. Foo!! you carry her off—but she comes back—she escapes from your toilse—she is an angel—an angel of her own creed! Nor can you dispose of her as you will——-that angel—that angel—-—angel !” Here was another revelation for the Queen: the mystery of Christina’s forced abduction was now cleared up. “Yes, Christina escaped from you, vile woman !” continued Sagoonah : “she came back—to be the Good Genius of my mistress, who is kind to her! Oh, [ will do no more to Indora! But that Englishman—the first whom I ever saw—the only one whom I ever loved———Ah ! his image is here —here——here !”’ Sagoonah turned uneasily upon her pillow; and with a low gasping sigh she laid her right hand upon her heart. Again she opened her large dark eyes; and she appeared to look slowly around with the vacant astonishment, half-dismayed and half- inquiring, of a young child who awakens in a strange bed and ina strange room. Indora bent over Sagoonah to see if she would be recognised: but the lids closed gradually, and with an air of heaviness, upon the ayah’s eyes: the long ebon lashes again resting upon the dusky paleness of the cheeks. There was another interval of silence, during which Sagoonah appeared to sleep in pro- foundest tranquillity,—until her bosom began slowly to heave with one long deep-drawn sigh, and more words wavered murmuringly upon her lips. * No, not love !—it is hatred now!” she said; ‘‘ hatred, because he loves another !—hatred be- cause he will not accept my love! Oh, wretched, wretched Sagoonah, to appeal to him in vain—to entreat and to threaten in turns—and all so fruit- lessly! And he so cold, so reserved, eo distant-——— Aye, and even so disdainfull But I will be avenged! I will leave this house, never to re- turn!—Ah! my mistress has jewels:and gold—I may be rich—poverty shall not clutch me with its long, lean, withered hands,—nor hover round me with its gaunt, squalid, emaciated form! Away, away . to a magistrate !—let the blow be struck at once —a double blow—a blow that shall crush him and overwhelm her with despair! Yés—a blow that shall destroy both at once! There has already been too much of love: the time has come for hatred. But, no! not in this white dress of mine ecomiclboolk (CO