The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 319: what you’re looking at

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

wy «a THB MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. hither. But I must not remain in conversation | wild apprehensions which had originally thrown here: the eolemn proceedings of the tribunal must commence !"’ ~ Having thus spoken, Indora returned into the wast apartment bung with bleck; while Purvis burried off in another direction to execute her Mujesty'’s orders in respect to Christina Ashton. On re-entering the state-roon: wiich had been fitted up with so much awful solemnity, and which in some reapects resembled an inquisitorial scene of remoter and darker ages, Indora resumed her seat upon the throne. Nothing now remained changed in respect to the appearance of that apartment from what it was when we described it at the opening of the chapter. Upon the throne on the dais Queen Indora sat again—sa veiled female and @ masked man on her right—two veiled women and one masked man on her left. There too were the eable draperies on the walle—the black pall upon the ceiling—the ghastly white covering apon the floor. And still likewise was the strange mysterious light burning within that inner room the door of which stood partially open. About five minutes had elapsed after the return of Queen Indora from her interview with the Duchess of Marchmont; and again was the sable drapery agitated on one side of the room. The door which that drapery covered had just opened —the i themecives parted for an instant —and the Duke of Marchmont was conducted in by the two Hindoos who tad brought him in their custody from London. These Hindoos were in the household uf the Royal Commis. siovers who a few weeks back had arrived frum Inderabad to announce to Indora the death of her father and the intelligence that a throne awaited The two Hindoos were dressed in their gorgeous yniforms, the splendour of which contrasted strongly with the sombre gloom of that awful tribunal. The Duke of Marchmont was blind- folded; and his hands were held behind him by is Hindoo Bat as if nothing should wanting to complete the solemnity of the whole and to render it as strikingly terrible as ible to him whose eyes were about to be an- oF it selves were masked. One of them is sabre drawn in his hand, as an emblem is royal mistress wielded a power which it be vain for the captive criminal to dis- Duke of Marchmont was conducted up to of the throne,—at a distance of about yards from which his made a then unfastened the kerchief which is eyes. From the description already tire scene, the reader may possibly extent of the awe-inspiring terror ich it thus suddenly burst upon March- . Utterly unconsious was he before- epectacie that his gase was thus to ter; and when we consider what this epeo- wae, and likewise bear in mind that the Duke of Marghmont’s canssience was stained with count. less crimes, it wil] require but little effort of the imagination for the reader to conceive the effect produced upon him. Having only within the last few days risen from a bed of sickness—still suffer- ing physically, and incessantly tortured by all ths 4 oe halt. nf R 3 5 8 : gF T gg y that they might gase upon it, the two | good him on the couch of fever—the Duke of March- mont was bat the shadow of his former self. 8» emaciated was his form thet his garments appeared to hang upon him as if they had been made for another person: his countenance was thin, wan, and ghastly: his eyes were sunken in their sockete, the blueish tint of which enbanced the horrible aspect of their cavernous depths. Were it not that he was prepered for something dreadful, he could not possibly have sustained the shock, which the appearance of the tribunal prodaced upon him as the bandage fell from his eyes. He etaggered, and would have fallen were it not that his guards sustained bim. He bebeld Queen Indora seated u that throne; and it seemed to his appalled fancy that her’s was now a terrible beauty, and that there was the aspect of the avenging Nemesis in her majestic looks. He glanced to her right—he glanced to ber left: who were those veiled and masked figures? His gaze wandered elsewhere: what meant that light streaming forth from the inner roomP what mysteries or what horrors were concealed by thaf open door? He glanced upon his guards: they were now masked—although he had previously seen their countenances when they had appeared at his mansion in Belgrave Square to summon hia in Queen Indora’s name to Oaklands. Oh! well indeed had all her Majesty’s arrangements been combined to produce tke most awful effects on the Duke of Marchmont’s guilty soul ! It often happens that when s man who has for eome time foreseen the wreck of fame, fortune, rank, and safety, is suddenly brought face to face with the tremendous convulsion itself, the courage of utter desperation scizes upon him. And thas was it with the Duke of Marebmont. All ins moment the most powerful revulsion of feelings took place within him; and he clutched at the wild hope that he might yet save himself by pre- senting a bold front to this tribunal in the pre- sence of which he stood. And then, too, perhaps the thought struck him that the tribunal was only so formed in order to terrify him into confessions and extort from him avowals without which no case could be made ont against him. Per- haps likewise he fancied thet there might be an inclination in another quarter to spare him as much as ible, and that his own brother was chivalrous enough to make the moet fearful sceif- sacrifice that man could possibly make for the purpose of avoiding a terrific exposure that should startle the whole world. Your if it were not s-—- and if these conjectures were not fraught with reasons for hope—why should all those proceedings be arrayed in mystery and darkness against him? why should not everything have been left to the regular course of human justice and to the de- velopment of legitimate process in the public tri- bunals ? But whatever were the thoughts, the calculs- tions, the conjectures, or the hopes of the Duke of Marchmont,—certain it is that he suddenly as- sumed a different bearing from that which he bed at firet worn. He summoned all bis effrontery te his aid: desperation’s self nerved him to play a neck-or-nothing game,—to listen to all that might be charged against him—to ascertain precisely in what circumstances he was placed—to envisage the SG Eboae COMM (CO