The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 320: what you’re looking at

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

ig ee THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. 309 perils which surround-d him—and then to act, as circumstances should direct, either with grovelling entreaty or with lofty defiance. But Queen Indora had foreseen that through thie phase the mind of the Duke of Marchmont would pass; and there- fore had she spared nothing in her arrangements which was calculated to sustain the most awe- inspiring effects, and to strike him as it were blow upon blow, each one more puwerful than ite prede- Cessor. Geuaeteip CHAPTER CXLYV. THE WITNESSES. Tax Queen, fathoming everything that was pase- ing in the mind of the criminal who now stood in her presence, suffered several minutes to elapse be- fore she opened the proceedings by word of mouth. At length she spoke. It was in a dow, clear, measured voice—sufficiently cold to cofteey an im- pression of the implacable sternness of justice— and yet not deviating from the feminine harmony which became her sex and her queenly station. “ Prisoner,” she said, “ you have been summoned by the force of circumstances before a tribunal which, though not constituted according to the lawe of your country, nevertheless wields a power which you cannot possibly defy. I know full well all the hopes that you are now entertaining: but ‘they will be defeated! Rest acsured that I should not bave undertaken a task in the accomplishment of which there was the slightest scintillation of doubt. Your own conscience must tell you whether you have in your lifetime perpetrated deeds that would render you amenable to any human tribu- nal; and if eo, then are you amenable to this! Man of many crimes, the hour of retribution is come-and Providence has ordained that the tan- gied web which you yourself have woven by your countless iniquities, should this night close in finally around you |” The Duke of Marchmont thought for a moment of making a reply: but a second reflection bade him remain faithful to the policy of hearing all that could be alleged against him: for he had by this time begun to suspect who most of the wit- nesses were, that either veiled or masked were ar- rayed against him upon the platform. “Your crimes, prisoner,” continued Queen In- dora, “are now about to experience a terrible re- vival in your memory—even if that memory could ever have lost sight of them while conscience fed the eternal lamp which sheds its light in the desecrated sanctuary of your soul. Asa train of Spectres passes through the diseased imagination, 00 shall your iniquities, as well as their accom- their agents, or their victims, be presented im vivid reality to your view. First let me speak of that amiable and excellent wife of yours—the loving and affectionate Lavinia — whom by the of conspiracies you sought to brand with a charge as infamous as it was falee, and to sully her purity in order that you might obtain a ground for her repudiation. This, which was the lightest of your misdeeds, would for any other man be Crushing and overwhelming! And next I will peak to you of your black turpitude towards a wa weg, . ee eee _ yousg woman whose character was her only for- tune—and ‘against whom, by sid of opiate drags, you perpetrated the foulest and most infamous outrage. Behold! she is here !—she who is alike & witness ready to testify of your black designs against your wife, and of your dark satanic villauy against herself!” Thus speaking, Indora pointed towards the veiled female who sat upon her right hand: the veil was thrown off—and the countenance of Amy Sutton wae revealed. Looks of malignant hatred and fiend-like revenge were those which this in- jared young woman bent upon the Duke of March- mont; and he recoiled in horror therefrom—not so much because the looks themselves touched « remorseful chord in his conscience, as because it struck him that the victim of his lust was there to gloat over his final undoing and utter fall. “ And now I would address you as a man,” con- tinued Queen Indora, “ who endeavoured to suborn others to the execution of yoer villanous purposes —as one who lavished gold by thousands to indgee @ needy spendthrift to wield the bravo’s dagger against my own life! Here is a deed which, if proclaimed to the world, would bring you before a tribunal constituted on a basis different from this one! There site the man who can testify how he was thus suborned, and who on a previous ooca- sion had lent his aid in your diabolical machina- tions against your own wife!” While giving utterance to this last sentence, Qaeen Indora’s extended arm pointed towards the masked individual who sat next to Amy Sutton, on the right hand of‘ the throne; and when that in- dividual took off his mask, he revealed the counte- nance of Wilson Stanhope. His countenance ex- preseed a species of terror as if the man himeelf entertained but a vague idea of how all these pro- ceedings would terminate, and was therefore by no means assured that exposure to the whole world would not ensue and that condign punish- ment would not overtake himself. , ““ And now I wili speak to you,” continued Quees Indora, “of a darker crime than even those té which I have alluded,--a crime which, when de- signed. by you, was not altogether frustrated by | Circumstances —but which was so far carried into effect that it struck a fellow-creature, though so¢ the one whom it was meant to strike: namely, myself! Prisoner, it was at your instigation that the assassin-blow was dealt in the garden of my villa-residence: and here is a witness who can tes- tify to the discoufse which subsequently took place between yourself and the agent of your iniquity !” Thus speaking, Queen Indora made a sign for | the female on her left hand, to remove the veil | which covered her countenance; and when tbis was done, the Duke bebeld Mrs. Oxenden. He was not altogether without a suspicion that she indeed was the veiled female who sat in that place: but when the suspivion was turned into certainty, he felt a horrible tightening at the heart—for it seemed to him as if even those whom his gold had maintained in luxury, were arzaying themeeives against him. Thie idea is always a harrowing ove for the individual who feels that the gruund is slipping away beneath his feet: be- cause.it is frightfully ominous of the crowning | catastruphe. Thus the presence of Mrs. Oxendea <= temas — - - - -.- es -- = res ie, ae COMME HOG cS) (CO