The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 112: what you’re looking at

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a a ee a tN THR MYSTERIES. 05 hearted wretch that could remain uymoved by the teezs which thine owa ill-treatment hag provoked ! Kaowent thou not what women's lova is? It would prompt her to die for thee—to lay down her life to save thine or the lives of her obildren? She has her fanlis, her failings, and her caprices: but, O man! pardon them—pardon them—for they are as nothing in comperison with her devotion, her affection, and her tenderness. Asa grain of mus- tard sead is to the whole carth, so are woman's foibles to her love! But you will point ous bad bat ask thyself, O blan! who made them thus ?— who reduced these wretehed argaturesa to whet they are? The reply, if traly gives, recoils with a oroshing weight of terrible accusation upon thy- self! For ’tis ‘how who hast worked all that in- fernal mischief. Take the vilest of the vile—the most loathsome of the loathsome forms of vice whose features bear the vivid impress of diasipa- tien and debanchary,—and traee this lost one’s his- tory of crime back to that moment when virgin innocence was wrecked in guilty enjoyment, and thou wilt hear a tale of fervent love on her part and eruel deception on that of the sedacor! Yus— tis thon, O Maa! who art the most ratiiicas enemy and the most unrelenting oppressor of that sex to proclaim whose wrongs we have more thaa onoe ventured to wield our pen, feeble and inef- feotual though our champioaship may be | But let us resame the thread of our narrative. Foster, the ruined merohant, awoke unrefreshed from his slambers ; and when his eyeg fell apon the pale and care-worn countenances of those who were so dear to him, he endeavoured to smile his gratitude for the vigil which he saw they had been keeping. But, heavens! so full of vacancy and woe was his smile, that it told wo plainly of a mind fast fading with the heart that was breakiug within! Both wife and daughter beheld that terrible indica- tien of the mortal shock which he whom they adored had received : but they dared no} look at eaoh other, lest they should betray the agonising fears thas were now uppermost in their mind. Mr. Foster rose—performed his toilette with a precision that was habitual, and therefore mechani. eal in the present instance—anod desesnided to the breekfast-table. He ondeavourei to appear tran- qail and composed: but the tremendous efforts which he thus made to conoeal all that ho felt, were omy concentrating his emotions with a maddening effect. His wife and daughter implored bim not to leave hoine that day: they dazed not offer to ac- eompany bin into the City—and they could not suffer him to repair thither alone. With a ghastly look, he murmured an assent to their prayer— adding ia a low and hollow tone, “It would be use- Less oven if I ware to go!” The morning wore away—heayen knows how! We eannot pause to conjecture all the feelings and emotions expesienced during the few hours which followed the ceremony of sitting down to a break- fast that was removed alinost untasted. To attempt sach a description wenld be to undertake the task of showing how haman beings can live whole ages of pain and engnish in as many minates: it would be to depiet cach throb ef a pulse yiolont with the agitation of delirium--to note each tremor whieh passed through veins wherein lightning seemed to circulate—and to deseribe all the spectral shadows whigh rested upon souls goaded to despsir ! As three ooclock in the afternoon drew nigh, Mr. Foster’s excitement became intolerable. He first began to pace the reom with yoever steps, as if his braia were swimmiag round: then he wandered about the Bouse like a restless Spirit. His sorrowing wife and the equally afflicted Rose dared not follow him: an ey feared to increase the Rene irritability that Wes galing £0 repidlv upon At length three o'clock struski—end at that ;|momant the ladies were in the parlour oa the ground-floor—while Mr. Foster was moving about in the upper part of she house. The doer ef the parlour was opea—and the two naheppy females pate listening in breathless gilenge: for every time the sounds of the merohaut’s footsteps ceased to be heard by thea—if only for e fow momenta—a mortal torror seized ypon them. And yot they darad not reveal to eash other, even by a look the dress apprehensions which they geutuall @ Prosentiy—aoon after the elock in the kitchen had struck thrice--Wr. Foster was heard to enter his dressing-room. His wile knew that be had pistols thore; and, unable any longer to restrain her- self, she rushed from the parlour, Rose, animated with a poignant sympathy, hastened to follow her ; | A seveam burst fram tha lips of each : but atill they ran--they flew to the dressing-room | And these--great God! what a spectacle met their horrified vision! He whom they loved was no more. Stvetehed upon tho carpet, with his heed frizhtfylly shattered, ley the desperate suicide; while the thin whito smoke was ourling in wreaths towards the aailing--and the alr was impregnated with the amell of the powder. With a piercing soveam, Rose theew horaalf upon the corpse of her sire and gave way to all the an- guish of her indescrbabie grief. But the effect producad upon Mra. Foster was different :~-for a fow momeuts—nay, for nearly a wiraute did she stand transfixed upon the threshold of the chamber -wher eyes beng with au awiul wildneag gpon the scene before her. Thea, suddenly — rending— thrilling —penetrating shriek burst from her lips, — 9 longthenad in twain; and she fell headlong—a lifeless corpse by the side of her husband, At this moment the servants entered the room; and Rgse was borne away, in a sensoleas state, to ber own But searcely had ove of the domestics begun to administer restoratives to the unfortunate girl who had thus suddenly been made an orphan, when a loud double knosk at the door called down the other dependant to answer the imperious summons. The arrival was Mr. Meagles, who came as the bearer of tho money which was to satisfy the mer- chant’s claim upon the Princea. The Amazon had introduced the Mazquis ef Sajat Croix to his Royal Highness's private apartment et the very moment that the clock was striking one—gad in less than 3 quarter of an hour the bond was signed and the cash paid down. But the Prince was so much pleased with the old Vreneh nobleman that he insisted upon his staying to partake of lunch; and when Tim COMGROO S COMM