The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 179: what you’re looking at

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

PATRICIAN LADY AND PLEBEIAN GIRL 153 Lady Holderness, now endeavouring to frighten and subdue Miss Walters by the assumption of a look of stern menace. ‘‘ Tt may be so,” said Caroline, with a calmness that almost staggered Fernanda; ‘ but I am innocent, nevertheless. Lady Holderness, I now know who you are, I know also that this is your husband; andif I have made any unpleasant allusion before him, it is your ladyship who has provoked it. Had you treated me with only ordinary kindness when I met your ladyship ere now at the door of your mansion, I should have been gratified, and not for a single instant should I have thought of obtruding myself farther upon your notice. A kind word, in recognition of former friend- ship, would have warmed my heart toward you; but your ladyship treated me with contumely, with insult; and my wounded pride prompted me to resent this ungracious demeanour on your part.” ‘And would you have me apologize for what I have done? ” demanded the patrician lady, in a tone of haughty defiance, though in her breast a certain misgiving, almost amounting to a positive uneasiness, had risen up while Caroline was speaking. ‘“* Apology! ”’ ejaculated Miss Walters, with a contempt as bitter as any irony that Fernanda was capable of using. ‘No apology from your aristocratic lips to my plebeian self would be sincere, and therefore I should reject it with scorn. But listen to me for a few moments. Nota quarter of an hour has elapsed since the door of your mansion was closed in my face. All the blood boiled in my veins; my soul . was fired with resentment. Away I sped to the nearest shop; and there, while purchasing some trifle, I asked who lived at such and such a number in Cavendish Square. The shop- keeper was garrulous, and I learned in a few minutes twenty times more than I could have possibly expected to glean in so short a space concerning you.” “And what have you thus learned?’’ demanded Lady Holderness, still maintaining a tone and manner of cool de- fiance, while her husband walked toward the window and back again to the farther extremity of the room, with an agitation and a nervousness that he could not conceal. ‘ What have you learned, I ask?” repeated Fernanda, with the affected indifference of a conscious security, but really for the purpose of ascertaining how much Caroline knew, and whether she COMMUG OVO) SS mn