The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 126: what you’re looking at

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OL A CAT LLL LLL LDL ALLEL AO tt Ul att tl te . 112 THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. have told you that she consented to become my mistress—and I have put you in possession of the arrangements for the meeting of to-morrow night. Thus far I have fulfilled my compact. But you must permit me to add that you, Leveson, never can hope to triumph over Venetia by means of stratagem or artifice : she will prove far too cunning for you —and as for violence and outrage, that of course is out of the question. You would not dare attempt such a proceeding, even if you were strong as Hercules and she weak asalamb. Now, then, my dear Leveson, seeing that you have not the ghost of achance in that quarter, 1 ask you to release me from my compact with you—the only boon that I solicit in return for the vacant Garter——” “Then do you abandon all farther designs upon the lady in the gossamer dress ?” exclaimed the Marquis of Leveson, not looking over well pleased’ at the proposal, and yet scarcely seeing how to refuse it, especially as the Garter itself might haply be at stake: for he knew what a slippery customer he had to deal with. **T most assuredly abandon all farther views in that quarter, my dear Leveson,” answered the Prince; “and, by the bye, I think that if you suc- ceed in discovering the gossamer lady, you may very well manage to console yourself with her for the loss of Venetia. Next to Miss Trelawney, she is de- cidedly the most splendid creature I ever encoun- ° tered.” “Your Royal Highness is certainlya good judge,” remarked Leveson, with the least accent of bitter- ness and sarcasm in his tone. “ But if you will send me in the course of the afternoon a letter promising the Order of the Garter, in all due form and with your royal seal, I have no farther’ hesita- tion in saying that I release you from the compact relative to Venetia Trelawney.” “Itshall be done, Leveson,” replied the Prince. “And your Royal Highness abandons all farther design upon the gossamer lady?” continued the Marquis. “Most assuredly,” was the ready response. “Ferret her out—make her your own—she is worthy of all the trouble or expense you may be- stow upon the search after her. But perhaps you have already obtained a clue——” “No, sir—not at present. I have, however, an active agent at work—and he will not let the grass grow under his feet. Neither is he the man to be bafiled or disheartened,” added the noble lord, em- phatically. “ But when you do succeed in this search, Leve- son,” observed the Prince of Wales, “ you will let me know what could be the meaning of all that mystery on Monday night, and what sort of a docu- ment it really was that I signed so rashly 2” _ “ Whatever information I may succeed in obtain- ing upon those points, sir,” returned Leveson, “shall be duly imparted to your Royal Highness. And now, sir, you will permit me to order up lun- cheon.” “No, my dear friend,” interrupted the Prince, rising. “I must return to Carlton House. The Minister is to be with me at five punctually. There are numerous papers to sign—amongst them several death-warrants By the bye, [ could not help laughing at a paragraph which has recently gone the round of all the newspapers, and which shows how the wretched lickspittles of English journalists endeavour to prove their servile devotion to the Court. It is all pleasant enough to have the gentlemen of the press, as they call them- selves, thus licking one’s feet: but I cannot the less despise and contemn them fer their miserable grovelling character and disgustingly sycophantic dispositions.” * But what is this paragraph to which your Royal Highness alludes?” inquired the Marquis. “It was one which stated, in the most nauseating terms of flattery, that 1 experienced a horror and aversion at signing death-warrants,” said the Prince. * Now the fact is, dom think the laws are half severe enough. ‘The‘lower-orders are dreadfully discontented—a pareel of seditious scoundrels that were born to be the slaves of us princes and nobles! How I detest them, the unwashed ruffians !—and so far from having any remorse at signing death- warrants, I should like to see more of the wretches tucked up.” * Yes—-I think that the severest examples are required, sir,’ observed the Marquis of Leveson. “The lower orders are beginning to thinkfor them- selves——” “Aud they have no business to do so,” ex- claimed the Prince Regent, stamping his foot upon the carpet. “But I tell you what, Leveson—if there’s any more sedition in the country,'the go- vernment spies and agents shall urge on the mobs to violence—and then we'll have a good massacre, A. wholesale massacre will strike’ terror into the hearts of the people. “Why, what with the writings of Tom Paine and other scoundrels of the revo- lutionary class, the lower oMers are actually’ be- coming ‘quite opiniated. Enlightened, by God! Pll enlighten them shortly, if they don’t mind: but it shall be with the gleam of bavonets, the flash of sabres, and the blaze of artillery.” “ Yes, sir—I agree with you,” said the Marquis of Leveson, as coolly and deliberately as if he were discussing the most ordinary topie tof the day. “ Ministers will be much to blame if they don’t get up a massacre shortly. But, by thebye,” exclaimed the nobleman, as the thought struck him, “is not this a provoking affair about young Mary Owen? I sent you a note last evening with the parti- culars . * Well, itis somewhat annoying,” said the Prince: “but it can’t be helped. She will no doubt return home again to her mother in a dayor two. At all events, as she promises in her note that she will not betray her parent or her sisters, I think that she is to be relied upon in that respect. She loves them too well to do them aninjury. But even if she were to reveal what she knows to any stranger into whose hands she may fall, she would not be belieyed: or if believed, no one would dare to give publicity to such circumstances. Thank God! we've a yood law of libel and the most complaisant, willing, accommodating juriesin this country, Be- sides, there’s such a thing’ as suspending the -_— ee ee Ne SSS. LLL LL taal Habeas Corpus Act and sending all ruffianly libel- | lers and scandal-mongers out of the land, or else locking them up secure in gaol. Everything con- sidered, therefore, I see nothing to apprehend and | little to fret about in Mary Owen’s conduct. Indeed being so timorous and full of nice scruples, it is much better that she should have withdrawn from an affair which she would only have compromised by her namby-pamby nonseneoyaa)ival eVeVor’e _- ee eee