The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 90: what you’re looking at

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

72 THE COURT OF LONDON on that memorable night, he embraced his wife and children with his wonted affection, and then retired to his chamber.” The Honourable Mrs. Bredalbane paused for a few mo- ments to replenish her glass of liqueur, an example which - Mrs. Arbuthnot readily followed, and this being done, the former lady resumed her narrative in the ensuing terms: “It was half-past two in the morning, when the cry of murder rang through that portion of St. James’s Palace. All was speedily confusion and alarm. The Duke of Cum- berland was in his nightshirt, covered with blood, Neale was. with him, and in a very short time all the domestics were aroused from their beds. Joux was one of the first to speed. to the duke’s chamber, and it was he who was also the first. to discover that Sellis was no more. It appears that on hastening to call the Italian, Joux was horror-stricken on finding the unfortunate man lying on the bed with his throat. cut from ear to ear, — indeed, in so horrible a manner that. his head was all but severed from his body. Advancing nearer to the couch, Joux presently observed a sheet of paper lying on the floor. It was a partially finished letter, in the handwriting of Sellis, and being in the shade of a chest. of drawers, from which it had evidently fallen, it might easily have escaped the superficial notice of any one entering that room. Indeed, Joux himself had not remarked it until looking more attentively about the scene of horror, so that it is not to be wondered at if it failed to catch the eyes of the murderer in the hurry, confusion, and excitement. necessarily attendant on the perpetration of so appalling a. crime. Joux hastily ran his eye over the first few lines, and these were to him a sudden revelation. He understood it all, but finding himself thus in a single moment the possessor of a fearful secret, he felt an unknown terror come over him. It seemed as if a warning voice whispered in his ear, ‘ Take: heed lest you share the same fate!’ For he saw in an instant. that Sellis had been murdered on account of this same secret. which had just come into his possession; and as he beheld the awful spectacle of the butchered Italian stretched before: him, an ice-chill struck to his heart with a presentiment of what his own doom might be. Hastily thrusting, therefore, the letter into his pocket, he was induced by his terrors to. place a seal upon his lips. You may rest assured that he: sought the earliest opportunity to lock himself up in his own. COMmiclaoo (C@)