The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 160: what you’re looking at

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

a re ene THE MYSTERIES. 148 tomy care. However—let us return to what ] was _ just now saying. We were speaking of the young Jady who occupies the next chamber to yours. ‘That: young lady, as you have already been informed, is of high birth—and her name must continue to be. | veiled in the deepest mystery. She requires a com-. panion—eome one who will consent to pass a few hours with her each day, and who will neither seek todraw from her who she is, nor recognise her again should they ever meet hereafter in the great and | basy world without. Poor creature! she feels aad and looely—for the nurse is certainly no fitting | associate ; and I have so many things to attend to, | that I can give her but little of my company. Under all these crrcumstances I have determined to select you as the moet genteel—most amiable—and most | discreet of the young females from whom such a choice could be made.” | I shail cheerfully undertake the duty of ren- fering the time as agreeable as possible to the | lady” seitl Caroline, both flattered and pleased at having been thus marked out for the task. _ “You may, then, at once ascend to her cham- | ber, my dear,” returned Mrs. Lindley. “ But, hark !—not a word to the others—or they will be . jealous; and they will likewise overwhelm you with retired, and that you love to seek the solitude of Jour own room. By producing this impression Upon them, you may easily pass a few hours every: . day with the young lady, andnot be observed by the rest. Do you comprehend me ?” “Perfectly, ma'am,” answered Caroline ;—and. she then withdrew from the midwife’s parlour. _ Inthe room to which the girl now ascended, a ' beauteous creature occupied a bed tastefully fitted up and of a more luxurious character than those in the other dorimitories. | The young lady was about eighteen. Wer eyes were not particularly large, and of the deepest violet blue, shaded by long jetty lashes, and capable of undergoing every variety of expression. When pstormy gnd soul-piercing, they appeared to be black as night and burning with an overwhelming _ lustre ;—and if eyes could slay, those were the orbs which might. have had the power to shoot forth the fiery arrows of death. But when beaming with | love, and melting and tender, these eyes were ofa | | perple hue so exquisitely soft that it seemed as if they could never assume a look of wildness and , flerceness — never menace with their vengeful ' glaness, nor sear with their lightning brilliancy. Her hair was of a dark brown—of such glossy _ Yiehness that it seemed of a fainter and more golden hue where the light rested upon it, and. black where the shade remained. Her skin was of the purest— | most snowy white, save where veined with the pale | sapphire’s. tint : for the gentle hue of the rose which | sate upon her cheeks when she was in health, had ' now @ad—and yet her pallor was not ghastly nor eorpec-like—no, nor even sickly, though produced | by 7 neposition s—neither was it insipid—but it . And in strong contrast therewith was the perfeetly scarlet richness of her lips, which the warmth of her temperament and the ardour of her nature. The proudly rising throat, ; Sleping shoulders, and well-developed contours of the bust were in harmony with a very slender waist and finely proportioned limbs: for though impertinent questions whenever they see you. Let, them believe that your habits have grown more’ she was not above the middle stature of her sex, her symmetry was admirable. Such was the young lady in whose presence Ca. roline Walters now found herself: ond for a few instants she stood gazing upon her ii mingled ad- miration and respect. ‘Come near me—give me your hand,” said the fair patrician, in & winning tone whioh immediately placed the young woman at her ease; and, ad- vancing to the bed, she took the proffered hand which she pressed cordially as if to implya -hope that they should agree well together. *% ¥es—wr will be friends,” added the lady, either divining what . passed in the other’s mind, or else struck <by the same sentiment. “ Your name is Caroline Walters: Mrs. Lindley told me that she should select you to be my companion. -At present you must not seek to know who Jam: but if I continue to like you as well as I do now under the influence of a. first impression, I will make you my confidant— I will keep no seeréts from yon.” ; Caroline was moved almost to tears by the ami- able softness which characterised the -petriojan’s tone, looks, and manner as she thus spoke ;—anil while the young womaa gazed on that heavenly countenance, she could nat coneeive it possible that one so winning, 80 fascinating, and so tender could have eonnived at the foul tragedy which had» been enacted on the night of whirlwind aad of tempest. Nevertheless, this was a point upon whieh Caro- line had resolved to satisfy herself so soon as an opportanity shoald occur. “Sit down by my aide, my dear friend—for so J shall call you,” resumed the lady, sinking back on the pillow whence she.had raised herself on-Caro- line’s entranee. Let us endeavour +o ‘consdle each other. You have dombtiess'been deceived and betrayed by a villain, -as 1 .have been: yon have perlraps loved as I have loved——” “Oh! yes—my love was a worship—an idolatry?!” | exclaiméd Caroline. “ And now, nothing remains for me buat——” SS “Despair or vengeance |” murmured the patri- cian, in a tone so altered—so changed from that in which she had previously spoken, that Miss Walters started up in affright; for it struek her et the in- stant that some other voice: had breathed those ter- rible words in the room. - “ Yea—despsir or vengeance,” echoed Caroline, the moment Bhe recovered her self-podeession. “But it ehall not be éhe former,” she added gloomily: then, fearing that sle had said too miueh, the young woman'hastened to observe, “I was however wreng to evince such a feeling, whieh ‘can only tend to make you detest me—-~’’ “ Detest you!” ejaculated the patrician, starting up in her coueh, a wild ight duddenly Hashing in her [ eyes: “I should despise and -hate you, were you calmly and resignedly to enflure the wrongs which you may have suffered at the hands of'a man! Love is the religion of the heart, Caroline,” she continued, in a impressive tone: “it will either elevate those who cherish it, to the condition of saints—or it will hurl them, like fallen angels, into that abyss where rage. the flames of vengeance and remorse. We are the fallen angels, Careline—and like fiends should we war against those who have plungéd us into the hell of our outraged feelings, our blighted affections, and our ruined hopes !” COMGLOO S COMM