The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 228: what you’re looking at

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

CHAPTER XX CONCLUSION OF THE MYSTERIES OF THE PAST BEHOLD Venetia now installed at Acacia Cottage, and entering upon the routine which Miss Bathurst had chalked out and the pursuits which she had so elaborately detailed. Mrs. Arbuthnot became ostensibly her companion, but she in reality served also as Miss Bathurst’s spy, so as to watch ‘all Venetia’s actions and make her report accordingly in Stratton Street. But our heroine proved too faithful to the cause in which she had embarked, and to the important interests stalked upon the enterprise, to commit any error or be led into any fault that needed reporting. Indeed, she proved an apt and docile pupil, not merely because she would not risk the agreeable position in which she was placed, but likewise because she had now her own ambition to gratify. An experienced, wily, and astute lady’s-maid, in the person of Miss Jessica, had been found for Venetia, and as this abigail was thoroughly trustworthy and unsurpassingly discreet, she was well fitted for the service she had to per- form. The man servant chosen for Venetia’s household was severe and morose enough to daunt any impertinent questioner, and at the same time old and ugly enough to avert the possibility of scandal on his account; for inas- much as ladies of rank, fashion, and beauty full often convert their handsome footmen into lovers, a similar imputation might have been raised against Venetia had her male de- pendent been young, of good figure, and of prepossessing countenance. Every arrangement was thus made and every precaution taken by Miss Bathurst not only to retain a complete hold upon Venetia, but likewise to guard her reputation against the chance of calumny. 206 CORDICLOOO S (GO nin