The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 363: what you’re looking at

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

THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. ridiculous! You were only boasting because you believed that thefe were none of those venomous creatures here: you would not grasp the puff- adder or the cobra di capello in that hand of your’s P” , A slight smile of scorn appeared upon the lips of the Hindoo woman; and she said, “ This hand of mine has often and often clutched the deadliest cobra; and its writhing form has coiled itself round my naked arm. To snatch the reptile deftly by the neck—to hold it in such a way that it could not bend its head so as to plunge its fangs into my flesh—to amuse myself with gazing upon ‘its expanded hood, and in marking the rage that vibrated in its small bright eyes—then with a lightning suddenness to fling it back again into the basket of the serpent-charmer—this was a freak, woman, which I have often and oiten per- formed.” “ And you would perform it again—or at least a portion of it?” said Madame Angelique, with a sort of dreadful shuddering joy, as she once more looked up-eagerly into the ayah’s countenance. “Aye—that would I,’ answered Sagoonah. * But it is useless thus to speak to one who is in- credulous——Ah ! now that I bethink me, this very afternoon will the Lady Indora take Christina Ashton to visit some Gardens in this metropolis of yours, where there are lions, and tigers, and other wild beasts pent up in cages; and it is promised that I shall accompany those ladies. If you were there to see, you would soon satisfy yourself whether the eye of the tiger can infuse terror into my heart. I who have seen the fierce animal loose and at large in our Indian jungles, crouching in readiness to spring upon the elephant which bore me in the castle on its back tac “ And you are going to those Gardens this after- noon?” exclaimed Madame Angelique, almost wild with delight: “the coincidence is indeed strange, because I had an idea p “What mean you?” asked Sagoonah. *‘T mean,” responded the infamous TFrench- woman, “that in those very Gardens to which you are going—if thither you indeed go is “TI tell you that just now,” interrupted Sa- goonah impatiently,— “only a minute before I issued forth from the dwelling to join you here, I overheard her ladyship inform Christina of the little plan she meditated to afford her a variety of scene, and thereby cheer her spirits somewhat after the incidents of the past night; and Miss Ashton, who gives a ready assent to everything her bene- factress proposes, expressed her thanks. ll this was said in my presence; and the Lady Indora added with a smile, that I should accompany them, —for that inasmuch as I had seen the wildest ani- mals free amidst the jungles of my own native land, and full of menacing mischief,—I should now behold them pent up behind iron bars, and reduced to subjection, if not to tameness, by the dominant power of man.” “Ah, then you will go to those Gardens!” ex- claimed Madame Angelique. “But did not your mistress tell you that there you will likewise behold specimens of 'the deadliest reptiles which belong to your own native Hindostan ?” “No,” answered Sagoonah. “ Perhaps her lady- ship is ignorant thereof.” “And yet it isso,” rejoined Madame Angelique. 307 “ A special house is devoted in those Gardens to the keeping of the reptiles; and there will you see them in glass cases. If you have the opportunity, Sagoonah, would you dash your hand through the frontage of one of those cases—seize upon the rep- tile within—and bear it away with you by some suitable means say, for instance, a thick leathern bag that you might have concealed about your person ?” “T would do it,” answered Sagoonah. “ But is it possible that such opportunity could present itself ?” ; “TT have often visited those Gardens,” replied Madame Angelique, “and have been alone for half-an-hour at a time in the reptile-house.” “You love, then, to gaze upon those venomous creatures P” said Sagoonah; and even under the coldness of her tone and look there was a certain satire perceptible, as if she meant to imply that there was a sympathy between the nature of the Frenchwoman and that of the snakes which she loved to contemplate. “Yes—I have frequently stood to gaze upon those reptiles,” answered Madame Angelique, not choosing to notice that half-covert irony which pervaded Sagoonah’s speech. “TI tell youthat you will find the opportunity if you have the courage to avail yourself of it. Those who may enter the reptile-house afterwards, will believe that the glass has been broken by accident, and that the reptile has glided forth of its own accord. There will be consternation; —of that no matter. You will know the secret—but you need not proclaim it. The cobra—if it did really thus escape, as it will be supposed—must go somewhere: and why not find its way to the villa of your mistress? and if to the villa, why not to her own bed? Who, then, shall dara tax you with the deed? Not even Christina Ashton would for an instant entertain the suspicion that the deed was your own.” Sagoonah gazed for a few moments in a sort of astonishment, not altogether unblended with ad- miration, upon the woman who despite the failure of her former artifices, had a devilish ingenuity sufficient for the concoction of such a scheme as this. Then the ayah mused for a few instants more; and at length she said, “Yes—if the opportunity serve, I will do it. And now be- gone !”? Madame Angelique sped away, her heart fiercely yet shudderingly elate with the horrible triumph which she had just achieved in respect to again bending Sagoonah to her purpose. It was about three o’clock in the afternoon, when the Princess Indora and Christina Ashton, attended by Sagoonah, alighted from the carriage at the en- trance of the Zoological Gardens in the Regent's Park. We have already said that her Highness, the King of Inderabad’s daughter, frequently—in- deed, almost daily—rode out in her equipage: but this was the first time that she had visited any public institution or scene of recreation. She had however for some time longed to behold those animals which she had often seen wild in her na- tive country, here in complete subjection to the power of“man; and she now availed herself of an opportunity when, for the kindest reasons, she sought to cheer Christina’s spirits and treat her to a change from that monotony of existence which she feared that her young friend experienced at | (C(O) nn) (e 0)(0)(0) S (C(O)