The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 284: what you’re looking at

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278 Adolphus to maintain his usual demeanour, so that the Earl might believe him anxious to avoid the risk of showing the ladies by his looks that any- thing extraordinary had taken place. As for Isa- bella, —she was inwardly sad at having been compelled by a sense of duty to pen that note to Christian Ashton to which we have already alluded; and not being versed in the arts of dissimulation, she could not outwardly conceal this mournful pensiveness. The dinner passed away; and when the ladies retired to the drawing-room, the Earl accompanied them,—not from any particular motive, but merely because on this occasion he had no inclination to sit over his wine. Adolphus went out to take a short ramble by himself: for he again felt the necessity of giving way to his reflections. Thus the evening passed without Adolphus and Ethel being left alone together even for a single in- stant. We must observe, for the better comprehension of what is to follow, that the Countess of Lascelles still slept apart from her husband; and though the Earl was becoming impatient of this separa- ‘ion of chambers, he had not as yet insisted that ‘should cease. Night came: silence prevailed throughout the ilatial mansion of the Earl of Lascelles. Were sleeping there? Who can say? When the tld retire to rest in the evening, they know not it may transpire during the many hours of kness ere they awaken to the light again. And ‘ng those hours what deeds of mystery and or are often perpetrated! Wherefore to the d-minded is night more or less terrible, even igh their own consciences be without reproach ? .s because they know that crime chooses the .r.of darkness wherein to achieve its purpose: y know that guilt shrouds itself beneath that ibre veil when creeping stealthily along its sh of iniquity. They know that if their intel- eme can divest night of its superstitious terrors, , nat nevertheless real objects of horror are sng abroad, and that the votaries of crime onsute frightful shapes. They know that mur- ‘der,ud burglary, and violence of every descrip- -4jore fearfully personified during the hours of © garss; and that the breeze which sighs or that -4hend which howls around their dwellings, may ‘pe ing the last low moan or else the loud ery {murdered victim’s agony. Yes—night has ‘tgors: it is peopled with fearful shapes ;— qe dark passions of man accomplish all night passed—and morning dawned upon *=-1 mansion of the Earl of Lascelles. It “ul day to which that night had thus be beams of the orient sun shone ‘ verdure of the gardens, and * as if gems were appended ‘ds were carolling in the “yw on the domestics’ he breeze of morn, rose from their t the work of later, as eight of other cham- .—that of Adol- - ound-floor, The ~oftly breathing THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. zephyr, which carried the blithe song of birds upon its wing, and penetrating to every ear, might have infused serene happiness into every heart. But, ah! what horrible rumour is this which towards nine o’clock begins to circulate like wild- fire throughout the palatial mansion P—has murder been doing its dread work during the darkness of the past night? or is it some frightful error ? No: it is all but too true; and the unfortunate Earl of Lascelles has been made the victim of a foul and mysterious assassination, It appeared, from the statement of Makepeace, that he went as usual to his master’s suite of rooms a little before nine o’clock; and that on en- tering the bed-chamber, he was horrified on be- holding the sheet deluged with blood. He approached—and found the Earl lying on his back, with his throat literally cut from ear to ear. Seized with a mortal terror, he rushed forth on the landing, and raised that ery of murder, which awaking such terrible echoes, speedily reverberated throughout the mansion. Then the other ser- vants began flocking thither, with ghastly horror depicted on their countenances: Adolphus, the Countess, and Isabella, from their own respective chambers, sped with wild distracted looks in the same Girection ;—and that morning of such serene blissfulness out of doors, was one fraught with dread confusion, trouble, mystery, and affright within those walls. Who could have done the deed? Where was the weapon with which it was accomplished ? This was not to be found. The nearest surgeon of the neighbourhood, who was quickly sent for, and who was speedily on the spot, declared that the Earl must have been dead some hours—and that it was consequently in the depth of the night when the red right arm of Murder bared itself for this tremendous deed. Furthermore, the medical authority affirmed that the fatal wound was in- flicted by some very sharp instrument; buf that from certain appearances, he was convinced it was not with a razor, — his opinion being that it was a large knife. Whatever the instrument were, death must have been imstantaneous: the unfortunate old nobleman must have died al- most without a groan... But that instrument, as we have already said. was not to be found; and when the police arrived upon the spot, nothing was discovered to attach suspicion to any parti- cular individual. Every room throughout the mansion was strictly searched,—Adolphus, the Countess, and Isabella desiring that theirs might torm no exception, as they did not choose to dray a line of demarcation between themselves and the domestics under such circumstances. But in none of the many apartments of that house was there — discovered the slightest scintillation of a clue to the assassin. Yet the conviction was strong that the perpetrator of the deed must be an inmate of the mansion. No burglarious entry had been effected: no door had been foreed—no window had been found open, when the servants first descended from their own chambers. If therefore the assassin was not a dweller within those walls, could he have been secreted for hours beneath the Earl’s bed awaiting his opportunity to commit the dreadful crime? But in that case, how did he escape after the deed was done? Certainly TOniGdooks mi (E(0)