The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 310: what you’re looking at

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mm ee—™ ee ae 296 THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. sul on my arrival in Paris, and he would give me farther information. Conceive, my dear Clara, the state of mind into which this letter threw me: and, Oh! you were not nigh to counsel me! [felt that it was wrong to leave our poor aunt to the care of a comparative stranger: but on the ovher hand it would have been-madness or perhaps death for me to have remained at home, a prey to the most excruciating suspense !” “Poor girl!” said the elder sister, hastily wiping her eyes. “No—I was not there to succour you with my advice, although I ought to have been! But go on, Louisa—go on,” she repeated, with a sort of nervous impatience. “I can understand full well howit was that you yielded to the impulse of your feelings and resolved upon repairing to Paris. Under the circumstances I should have done the same: and therefore I do not blame you.” “Thank you, dear sister—thank you for that as- surance !” exc'aimed Louisa, smiling through the tears which had started forth upon her lashes as she spoke of her aunt. ‘“ Yes—it is as you have said! Driven wild with fearful misgivings—half frenzied and delirious—hurried along as it were by an overwhelming torrent of feeling, | became power- less for anything like calm deliberation. Mary Owen promised to bestow the most unwearied attention upon my aunt, and to take my place in all tender ministrations towards her. I knew that my young friend was kind-hearted, affectionate, and sicere ; and I entertained not the slightest apprehension that our afflicted relation would experience neglect at her hands. Thus, after a few very brief preparations, my departure was taken hurriedly; and without any adventure worth relating, [ arrived safely in Paris. Immediately on reaching the French capital, I re- paired to the British Consul: and when I mentioned my name, he treated me with a kindness of man- ner so fully reassuring and even paternal that I was struck with the idea that he himself must be the author of the letter which was signed by an unknown Jriend. But in this respect I was speedily unde- ceived ; for, after a few observations to the purport that an excellent and kind hearted English nobleman was really the author of that letter, and was interest- ing himself in my behalf, the consul directed me to an hotel close at hana. where [ was to jinquire for the Marquis of Leveson. You may well under- stand, my dear Clara, that the moment this name struck upon my ears, it carried a vague and un- known terror into the depths of my soul: for al- though I had heard but little of this nobleman from. the lips of Mary Owen, yet this little was not in his favour.” Here we must pause for a moment to remind eur reader that when Jocelyn had introduced Mary Owen to the cottage at Canterbury, he had carefully forborne from mentioning to Louisa any- thing beyond the mere outline of the atrocious conspiracy that was a-foot against the Princess of Wales. specially did he avoid alluding to the infamous means which had been adopted to de. moralize the minds of the fair daughters of Mrs. Owen: and Mary herself, with a proper feeling of delicacy, never subsequently ‘enlightened Louisa in that respect. Thus the reader will understand that when Louisa heard the name of the Marquis of Leveson mentioned by the British Consul, she knew nothing of the worst phases of his character, gut only that he was one of the Prince Regeut’s a ee -- + — confederates in respect to the conspiracy against the Princess of Wales. These circumstances being duly borne in mind, it will be the more easy to comprehend the ensuing details of Louisa Stanley’s narrative. “Yes—on hearing that name of Leveson,” she continued, after a brief pause, “I felt that it was indeed probable he might know something of Jocelyn and of Jocelyn’s proceeding, since his lordship was s0 intimately connected with the machinations and designs of the Prince and so well acquainted with the Misses Owen. There- fore, after thanking the British Consul for his kindness, I at once repaired to the hotel which he had named; and on inquiring for the Marquis of Leveson, I was introduced to his presence. If you have ever seen him, Clara ——” “ Yes—I—I think I must have seen him,” ob- served the elder sister, with a slight appearance of © confusion. “ But go on. to say ?” What were you about ee ee “‘{ was on the point of observing that his Jord- | ship is an elderly, if not an old man,” continued Louisa; ‘‘and his age, added to the paternal kind- ness with which he received me, naturally inspired me with confidence. to be relieved of my dreadful suspense relative to Jocelyn, to give way to much misgiving on my own account; and as he doubtless saw by my looks how torturing that suspense was, he at once entered on the painful topie alluded to in his pseudonymous letter. After a suitable preface, he proceeded with every appearauce of gen- tleness and considerate caution, to unfold a long tale of charges and accusations against poor Jocelyn. so far relieved as to learn that the object of my affections had neither sustained personal injury nor was dead,—between which calamities my frenzied fancy had been cruelly alternating. But, Besides, I was too anxious | Thus at his very first words I was | Oh! if I were indeed relieved from that poignant — suspense and excruciating alarm, it was only to hear sofficient to prove, as I then thought, that henceforth Jocelyn was unworthy of the love which I had bestowed upon him! not—I would not—I dared not—put implicit faith Neveri.heless, I could | in the bare word of the Marquis of Leveson, with- | out corroboration and without proof. Nor did he for a moment appear to believe that I should rest satisfied with mere statements unsupported by | evidence. He assured me that his only aim was to save me from becoming the victim of an adven- turer, and that his conduct towards me was inspired by the feelings which a father might cherish towards a daughter. Ina word, my dear Clara, he spoke so kindly, so reasonably, and so conscientiously to all appearance—and then, too, I was so very, very unhappy, so lonely, and so much in want of a friend and adviser—that I readily promised to be guided by his couusel. He bade me remain at the hotel, assigning me to the care of the landlady and her daughters, who were worthy peeple, and seeing that 1 was unhappy, did their best to console me in my affliction, To be brief, the Marquis tuok me late that same night in his carriage tu the Pretecture of Puice: and there, as it appeared to me, | received the fullest, the cruellest, and, Oh! the most fatal confirmation of all that his lordship had previously toid me |” Louisa Stanley now related to her sister the SEE = S COMMNICLOO (E()