The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 329: what you’re looking at

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

THE EXPLANATION OF A PLOT 309 to question the old man on various points connected with that deplorable history. Purvis, who was delighted with the frank amiability of the princess, and also astonished at the fluency with which she spoke in his native tongue, as well as at the superior intelligence which many of her obser- vations indicated, cheerfully satisfied her curiosity, and the tale of the Duchess Eliza and Bertram Vivian was told all over again. Indora listened with a deep and awe-felt interest, and in the course of some remarks which Purvis made at the conclusion, he said, “‘ The very dagger, my lady, with which the dreadful deed was accomplished exists still be- neath this roof.” : “Ts it not strange,” said Indora, with a visible shudder, “that the present Duke of Marchmont should have pre- served a weapon which every time he beholds it must so frightfully remind him of the foul deed of assassination whereby he lost his uncle? ” “To tell your ladyship the truth, ’? answered Purvis, “his Grace knows not that the weapon is still retained within these walls. It is I who have kept it, and if you were to ask me wherefore, I could not say. Heaven knows that it is through no morbid feeling of curiosity, for seldom indeed do I venture to cast a look upon that terrible weapon. But after the coroner’s inquest, I found it lying in the room where that inquiry took place. No orders were issued as to its disposal, and I thrust it away in a lumber-closet. There it remained forgotten for a year or two, until the closet itself was to be pulled down in the course of certain alterations which were made within these walls. Then the dagger again fell into my hand; it was covered with rust, and a cold feeling of horror shot through me at the thought that it was my deceased master’s blood which was encrusted there. Your ladyship may think it a‘strange fancy on my part, but I took that weapon, and with my own hand scoured the blade so that the blood-rust should disappear; and this being done, I thought of burying it in the ground, in order to put it for ever out of human sight. But another strange whim seized upon me, and I thought I would preserve it. as a relic of the past, — just as in former times the armour of those who perished in battle was preserved by the families to which they belonged. To be brief, the fatal weapon has been thus preserved; and there are.times when I think that in CORRICLOO S (C) im