The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 93: what you’re looking at

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Poa -__— a <. ; eer ee . SS tl LL Tt i tt ty aetna an ee S. | THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. 87 nating between a paradise of bliss and Satan’s kingdom. No, Sagoonah—seek not to learn what love is!—avoid it if you have the power! Hap- pier—far happier are you than your unfortunate mistress |” “Ts hope, then, at this instant dead within the bosom of your. Highness?” inquired the Hindoo dependant. “ Oh, hoygean I explain the exact nature of my own feeling?” eried Indora, almost petulantly. “When the ocean is agitated into mighty waves, the bark which is floating over it, rises at one mo- ment to the summit of a billow, and is the next So it is with my plunged down into the abyss. heart—now at one instant elevated by hope, at -another plunged imto despair. For the vessel, when thus storm-tossed, beholds from the summit of the billows the beacon-light shining afar off and marking the entrance of the refuge-harbour: but when borne down into the deep, deep trough of the sea, the mariner on board his vessel beholds naught save the dark gloomy menacing waters around him. And so, again, is it with my heart. Now, Sagoonah, you comprehend all the mingled plea- sures and pains—the ecstatic hopes and the inter- vals of blank despair—the thrilling joy and the deep despondency—the fervid expectations and the wildering apprehensions, which make up the sum of love. Seek not to know it, my faithful Sa- goonah !—seek not to know it! mistress who counsels you thus.” Having thus speken, Indora made a hasty and somewhat impatient sign; and Sagoonah glided forth from the sumptuously furnished apartment. Searcely had the Hindoo woman reached the foot of the staircase, when a knock and ring called her to the front door; and on opening it, Mr. Redcliffe stepped across the threshold. He was, as usual, enveloped in his ample cloak; and his hat was drawn over his countenance—not as if, while coming hither, he had more than at any other time studied to avoid observation ; but such appeared to be his invariable habit when moving about the streets of the mighty metropolis. As he placed his hat upon the hall-table, and put off his cloak, he flung a look upon Sagoonah: for the im- pression of her haunting eyes was still strong upon his mind—and he doubtless now regarded her to see whether she again looked at him in that same strange fashion which had sent a vague and un- Enown trouble into the depths of his soul. But it was not so. The Hindoo woman, having closed the front door, stood in readiness to conduct Mr. Redcliffe into the presence of her mistress: her demeanour was that of an oriental slave—her looks east down, and the brilliant lustre of her eyes veiled by the thick jetty fringes which formed such dark lines, so that the very duskiness of her com- plexion appeared pale and light in comparison therewith. Another minute, and Mr. Redcliffe again stood before the Indian Princess, CHAPTER XVIL THE DECISION. Ir would be impossible to describe the feelings with which Indora became aware that this man a eek a a a es (Crolgal It is your fond ‘affixed upon myself who was the arbiter of her destiny, was now once more in her presenee. She rose to a sitting pos- ture on the velvet-covered sofa: but she dared not throw a single glance towards him. THope and despair were strangely agitating in her heart— blending too, although in confliction,—paradoxical as the expression may seem. It was natural that she should seek to prolong this hope as much as possible—and that, on the other hand, she should not rush forward as it were to find herself face to face with despair, until imperiously compelled to envisage it. The colour went and came in rapid transitions upon her cheeks,—blushing and disaps pearing through the transparency of her delicately dusky skin: while her bosom rose and sank with quick heavings. “My promise is kept,” said Clement Redcliffe, speaking in his wonted accents of mournfulness, but in all the harmony of his rich manly voice; “and your Highness will now probably explain wherefore you demanded this interval of eight days’ delay ?” Indora motioned Redcliffe to take a seat by her side; and now her eyes were turned slowly upon him. Hope and fear trembled in that glance: love and apprehension vibrated in that look. She dreaded what his decision might be—and yet she sought to put away from her own mind the con- templation of the very worst. The Englishman placed himself on the ottoman at a distance which was properly respectful towards a lady of her princely rank—but which was little calculated to encourage the hope that her loving heart sustained in conflict with the strength of despair. “ Yes, I will explain myself,” said Indora, with a sudden sensation of delight that she was thus furnished by his very words with an opportunity of again appealing to the tenderest feelings of his nature. “I besought this brief delay in the con- viction that during the interval, you would not fail to ponder well and profoundly upon the decision towards the proclamation of which each passing day brought you nearer and nearer. Then I thought to myself that every proof of my devoted love—every evidence of my imperishable affection, would present itself to your memory, and that the whole, accumulating with force and power, would rule your mind in my favour. I thought to myself that you would recollect how the mightiest Princes of my own native clime sought my hand in mar- riage, but that 1 rejected every proposal for your sake. I thought too, that you would bear in mind *how by those refusals I drew down upon wyself 3) my father’s anger “Your Highness had little to fear from the King’s indignation,’ interrupted Redcliffe: “ for your influence over him was complete.” “The allusion is ungenerous,”’ observed Indora softly, and half reproackfully. “It is meant to remind me that I stood as a barrier in the way of your freedom, and that 1 over-ruled my father’s favourable inclinations, when towards the end of your captivity he was about to yield to your often- repeated prayer to be liberated from it. Yes: it was a crime—a dark branding crime which I thus But, Oh! I felt that it was death to part from you; and I had not the courage —deeply, devotedly as I loved you—to lay such suicidal hands upon myself !” , “Oh! if you had given me my liberty,” exe SS seh eee eer ee ee ee aint > # ehooksieo