The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 312: what you’re looking at

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ee 298 from the female to the effect that she loved him and that he knew she thus loved him,—might it not have been addressed to him as a reproach and a remon- strance for coldness, aversion, or inaccessibility on his part? Depend upon it, Louisa, as I ere now said, Jocelyn will give, when you meet again, the fullest and most satisfactory explanations upon all these points.” “Yes, dearest Clara,” answered Louisa, in a voice tremulous with emotion, “I indeed see all those incidents in a new light, But what could I think of them at the time? Oh! I was stricken down as if the hand of death had suddenly been laid upon me: I was borne away from the spot— and for several days I remained in a state of de- lirium at the hotel. But the kindest attentions were shown me by the landlady, her daughters, and the medical attendant: and thus, when my mind began to emerge from the wild confusion of its ideas, | found myself the object of the tender- est solace and sympathy. I wished to hasten back to England—to return home: but the Marquis re- presented to me the impossibility of my travelling in the nervous and excited condition that I then was ; and this representation was warmly seconded by the worthy females to whose care I was as- signed. Weak as I was in body and attenuated as I felt in mind, I was over-persuaded without much difficulty. And I have already told you, Clara, how vain were the attempts I made to commit my woes to paper and correspond with you! Thus did day after day pass: and all this while the con- duct of the Marquis was so kind, so respectful, and at the same time so fatherly, that I felt assured his character must either have been mistaken or unjustly treated by Mary Owen. To be brief, I experienced the deepest gratitude towards his lordship: I felt that I was indebted to him for being rescued from the snares and influences of an adventurer. But, Oh! while thus I thought in a strain so depreciatory of poor Jocelyn, the seald- ing tears flowed down my cheeks and I felt as if my heart would burst! It was a relief for me to quit Paris—that place which appeared to be the scene of the fatal rock on which all my fondest | hopes were shipwrecked! The Marquis, with ‘a delicacy which entirely confirmed the good opinion I had recently been forming of him, ar- ranged that the landlady’s eldest daughter should accompany us as far as Dover, so that I might not be left without female society during the journey. On arriving at Dover, this young Frenchwoman left us to return to Paris, liberally rewarded by the Marquis. Up to this moment, Clara, the idea of proceeding to London had never entered my mind. But as I was journeying with the Marquis from Dover to Canterbury, he represented to me the propriety and even the necessity of consulting my | sister—yourself, beloved Clara—and pouring my _ sorrows into her bosom after all that had oc- curred. Ah! need I tell you—need I assure you that it required but little argument to persuade me in the adoption of this course? I nevertheless in- sisted upon halting at Canterbury to assure myself that our afflicted aunt was properly cared for. ‘Mary Owen, then said the Marquis, ‘is deeply prejudiced against me, and fancies that I am engaged in a conspiracy which has no other existence than in her own imagination. She will therefore believe, if you tell her you are travelling with me, that I shail THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. snatch her away from her present retreat and bear her back to her mother. But as Ido not wish to interfere with the poor girl, it will be needless for you to create any alarm in her mind. Would it not ihen be prudent to forbear from mentioning my name ee ee ee to her at all?’—I yielded to these representations, | which appeared to me so natural at the moment ;— | and besides, my mind was so attenuated that I really had neither the courage nor the power to think for myself, and was therefore easily led to — follow any advice that was given to me at the mo- ment by one whom I deemed a friend. I went to the cottage: Llearnt privately from the faithful servant-girl that Mary Owen had filled my place with the utmost tenderness towards my afflicted _ aunt:—and Mary Owen herself gave me the assur- ance that she had neglected nothing in the fulfil- ' ment of the duty entrusted to her. Few and rapid — were the words that passed between us. I told | her that Jocelyn was faithless to me, and a mere — adventurer in society. I told her also that her — sisters had proceeded to join the Princess of Wales _ in Italy: and I assured her that I had the best | possible means for believing that the conspiracy against that august lady had in reality no actual existence. Mary Owen was astonished at this de- claration on my part: she shook her head gloomily —but evidently was at a loss what to think. I told her to suspend all opinion until my return from London, when I would enter into the fullest and © minutest details. Then, after this. flying visit to | the cottage—a visit which lasted for a brief half- © hour—I returned to the Fountain Hotel where the Marquis of Leveson’s carriage had stopped. Our journey was then pursued towards Londou, where we arrived last evening.” Louisa Stanley now proceeded to relate the treatment she had experienced at Leveson House —how the Marquis and Ernestina had suddenly thrown off the mask, and how the seasonable and sudden arrival of Sir Douglas Huntingdon had © saved her from the treachery and outrage which the profligate nobleman had dared to contemplate. | The elder sister was more than indignant—she was positively enraged at hearing this recital of the crowning dangers through which Louiza had that morning passed; and she murmured to herself, * Lord Leveson shall repent of this black atro- | city!” * And now, dearest Clara,” said Louisa, throwing her arms around her sister’s neck, and gazing upon her with all her young heart’s innocent aad enthu- © siastie devotion,—* tell me, dearest Clara, are you yourself happy ?—do you like the gaiety and bustle of the metropolis?—or do you long to return to the peaceful retreat at Canterbury? Tell me, in fine, all—everything that regards you,” ‘Yes, dearest Louisa,”’ answered Clara, embrac- ing her fondly: “I will tell you everything—and you will perceive that I have all possible reason to be happy. In fact, dearest Louisa, if 1 have kept until some such occasion as this—I mean until we should thus meet and I could speak to you con- cerning many, many things which I could not so well have committed to paper—if I have kept all this till now, I say, you wiil not be angry——” “Ah! my deaicst sister, you have made me so , happy,” cried Louisa, “ by your assurances relative to Jocelyn, that Iain in a humour to behold every. thing in this world in the brightest and gayest co- —— COMICMHOOKS (€) Xu