The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 106: what you’re looking at

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

THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. Mi { ) | 7) S Mit _ SSS —| ili aSSssqaSSSSsSS attractive abcut this young ballet-dancer : it was only when at a second look the observer noticed her more attentively, the impression gradually forced itself upon his mind that he beheld a very pretty and interesting creature. For her’s was a beauty the sense of which stole imperceptibly upon one,—a beauty half the charm of which lay in its own re- tiring modesty. Yet nothing could be sweeter or purer than the look which beamed forth from those mild blue eyes, when she raised them, and before they were bashfully veiled again by their thick dark fringes :—nothing could be more softly melancholy or touchingly plaintive than the expression which grew upon that young girl’s countenance, when all her thoughts, being withdrawn from the gay and busy scene around her, were concentrated on some source of affliction that lay deep in her soul. figure was slight and delicate, but beautifully sym- metrical; and in her very shrinking from the rude auc) insolent looks that were flung upon her by the NO. 12,—THIRED SERIES. a ee — —_ — = mee - ‘them trom ruin—and thus that ruin had come. = rs &9 yy y SS SSS I) ‘i Wi l y | f p j} i (] AH i Wy : i] lf Y ! ) Hl ee = == privileged loungers as they passed her by, there was an unstudied elegance and a natural grace which made her seem at those moments sweetly captivat- ing in spite of herself. This young girl was named Henrietta Leyden. She had been a ballet-dancer only during the present season; and her salary was a mere pittance—eight shillings a-week! But wherefore did she thus stand apart from the rest? Why did she shrink from the libertine looks that were fixed upon her? Because that young girl was still virtuous—still uncon- |{aminated, even in the atmosphere of contamina- tion. Yet, heaven knows she was not virtuous for want of temptation—but because she was superior to it. entered their house, ravaging it like an army; for death had taken away her father at a moment when his affairs required the utmost attention to rescue AY She had been well brought up: her family had seen better days: but misfortunes had suddenly Her | EO) 0)(0)(0) (C ‘S (CO)