The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 62: what you’re looking at

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56 “The family is a very ancient and a most honourable one,” continued the Duke of March- mont. “Meredith himself is a handsome and elegant young man “4 “But if I mistake not,” observed Mr. Army- tage, “he is at variance with his relatives; and I would not have my daughter marry into any family where she would stand a chance of being cut, and where I myself should not be a welcome guest.” “Of all this you need entertain no apprehen- sion,’ rejomed the Duke of Marchmont. “The Marquis of Penshurst is more parsimonious than proud; and depend upon it, he will joyfully re- ceive his son aud his son’s wife when the latter brings an ample dowry with her on her wedding- day. As for yourself, you have only to lend a few thousand pounds to Lord Meredith, the Mar- quis’s eldest son—and to Lord Charles, his second son—both of whom are kept by their father’s penuriousness in total want of money,—you have only to do this, I say, in order to receive all possible civility at their hands.” “Yes, your Grace speaks truly,” said Mr. Army- tage. “As for Octavian Meredith, he is a very nice young man—a son-in-law of whom one might feel proud. But are you sure, my lord ie “T am sure, Armytage,” interrupted the Duke, “that I have managed the thing most capitally for you. Meredith furnished me an opportunity the other day of counselling him relative to his affairs: indeed it was the very same day on which you yourself called—and I have had him with me every day since. You may expect a visit from him this afternoon: so I shall not wait another moment—lest he might think it strange if he were to see me in conversation with you. Play your cards well, Armytage—and the fair Zoe will be Lady Octavian Meredith.” The carriage drove away; and Mr. Armytage re-ascended to his drawing-room, perfectly satisfied with the proposed arrangements: for after all,the Duke of Marchmont had just said, he saw ata glance how his daughter and himself would ob- tain, after the marriage, a suitable footing in the Penshurst family. But as he returned to the apartment in which Zoe was seated, his counte- nance betrayed not that anything unusual was passing in his mind; and as he was invariably accustomed to parade before his daughter, as well as in the presence of his friends and acquaintances, his great intimacy with the Duke of Marchmont, he was at no loss for an excuse for his Grace’s flying visit. “If I was to listen to that fellow Marchmont,”’ he said to Zoe, “ you would scarcely ever have my society at the dinner-table. He is always wanting me to go and dine with him. That is what he came for just now. I do really believe he feels more pleasure in my company than in that of any other of his friends, But hark! there’s another knock at the door.” Again did Mr. Armytage take up one of the splendidly bound annuals, and affect to be reading some stanzas by Lady Letitia Fitzharding Fitz- patrick Languishdale. The lines were by courtesy denominated poetry ; but in reality they were the most mawkish twaddle that ever was contained in an array of words set out in unmetrical lines, and with false jingles by way of rhymes. The door ae THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. was thrown open by the gorgeously dressed foot- man; and Lord Octavian Meredith was an- nounced. The reader is already aware that this young nobleman had for some little time past been an occasional visitor at Mr. Armytage’s house, and one of those scions of the aristocracy whom the wealthy parvenu had, through the aid of the Duke of Marchmont, secured as the “lions” of his saloons. He therefore received Octavian with becoming courtesy—though with no more cordi- ality than he had been previously wont to display ; for he was careful not to excite a suspicion of the machinations which were in progress. Zoe re- ceived the young nobleman with a lady-like affa- bility; and the conversation at first turned upon indifferent subjects. Suddenly Mr. Armytage re- collected that he had letters to send off to the post; and he begged his lordship to excuse his temporary absence from the room. Meredith was now alone with Zoe; and he gave the conversation an intellectual turn. The young lady entered easily into this train of discourse: it was pursued—and both became gradually more and more interested init. Meredith saw that Zoe possessed a well-cultivated mind: he had all along known that she was accomplished; but he did not suspect the existence of so much of wisdom’s treasures in her understanding. He was the more charmed too, inasmuch as her remarks were made with a mingling of well-bred ease and maidenly bashfulness which totally divested her of the obtru- siveness of the “blue-stocking.’ He had come expressly thus to draw her out—or, in other words, to fathom the depths of her mind: for he was nei- ther so selfishly degraded in his own disposition, nor so desperate in his circumstances, as to resolve all in a moment to seek as a wife a young female of shallow intellect and frivolous disposition. He remained an hour with Zoe on this occasion; so that he far exceeded the usual limit of a morning call: but the interval appeared to him the lapse of afew minutes only. He had never known so much of Zoe before; and he was as much surprised and delighted at what he thus found her to be on a better acquaintance. He took his leave, and striking into one of the most secluded portions of the Regent’s Park, de- liberated with himself. Did he love Zoe? No: assuredly not. Could he bring himself to love her? He sighed. That sigh was an answer to the question—an answer in the negative! The image of the lovely unknown of whom he had spoken to the Duke of Marchmont, suddenly rose up to his mental vision; and he felt that his heart was inextricably engaged there. Then, should he persevere in his contemplated suit with Zoe? His naturally honourable feelings shrank from the thought. At that instant he almost loathed him- self as one who had entertained the idea of per- forming the despicable part of a selfish fortune- hunter; and he said to himself, “No: poverty sooner — poverty ten thousand times sooner, in preference to this utter self-abasement in my own estimation |” Two days afterwards there was a splendid party at the house of Mr. Armytage ; and Lord Octavian Meredith was one of the invited guests. He attached himself to Zoe as her principal partner in the dance: he turned the music for her as she ~~ ee ewe eee COMDICLO© S (CO)