The Mysteries of London; or, Lights and Shadows of London Life — page 138: what you’re looking at

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

~ me ——-- -— 182 Tortured by a hundred different surmises, and de- termined at all hazards to relieve the horrible sus- pense which she was enduring, Celestine carefully made her way to ths door, and she was on the point | of opening it, when a ray of light streamed in beneath, and she drew involuntarily back as the sound of foot- steps cautiously descending the flight of stairs on the other side fell upon her ear. The door opened, the light again pervaded the room, and Pietro Bazzini, the Italian, again stood before her. “So, so, my pretty daughter,” he said, in a low penetrating tone, that made the shrinking form of Celestine shudder as she heard it, “you have been wise enough, I find, to take the hint I gave you, and cunning enough to choose a good victim to begin with. By all that’s lucky, my girl,” he continued with a coarse laugh, “ you have picked out a capital home, and having been all over the house whilst you were getting the better of the fright.I gave you, 1 can speak of the riches and good taste of the owner from experience as an eye-witness,” “ Wretch!” exclaimed Celestine, whose first alarm at his entrance had now changed to rage and indig- nation at his audacious presence; “ instantly quit this house, or I will bring the inmates to my assistance,” and, as she spoke, her hand was placed upon the bell. “Ring away,” answered the Italian with taunting bitterness, “I shall want some refreshment after the long journey hither I have taken, and, as I have had some trouble to find you out, you will oblige me by having the tray put upon the table.’ “I now give you the opportunity of eocaping unseen by the servants,” cried the girl with rapid utterance, still retaining her hold upon the bell: rope, and unmindful of the other's intimation; “‘ as you entered this place, so, doubtless, you can find a way to quit it without passing through the hall; but if you delay a moment longer, you incur a danger from which I cannot save you. Decide, and quickly, or the risk will be yours.” “Tt is a risk [ am quite willing to venture,” re- torted Bazzini, coolly taking up his position on the very couch where Celestine had reposed, and spravwl- ing his gaunt limbs ovor it; “I know well enough that thére are but two women left in the villa besides yourself, and they are far away from this part of the building. Come, the wine.” “ Wretched man, will you still brave the danger of being discovered here?” urged Celestine, as, now em- boldened by the emergency of the case, she released her hold of the bell, and crossing the room, drew the long curtains aside; “ look, these windows open on to the lawn, a pathway to the right will lead you to a wall over which you may easily climb, and in a few minutes be beyond the reach of pursuit.” “1 know this, too, for it was by that route I came into the grounds,” observed Bszzini, with the same careless indifference; “1 am obliged to you for the information, but have no occasion to avail myself of it. When I leave here, I should like it to be by the direct way, and a servant to attend me to the door.” “Hal” ejaculated Celestine, her eye glancing at the time-piece on the mantel, “it now wants but a few minutes to twelve; at that hour Lord Walsingham will return.” “So much the better,” cricd the other coolly, stretching himself on the couch, “for I shall then be able to have a little conversation with his lordship before I bid adieu to his mansion.” “How! you dare to accost Lord Walsingham! eee ee THE MYSTERIES OF LONDON. —_ Think you that he will calmly endure this intolerable insolence ?” “And do you think, Beatrice Bazzini,” exclaimed the Italian in reply, leaning forward on his arm and fixing his piercing eyes intently upon her, “ that his lordship would dare to receive me otherwise than as a welcome guest, when he has done me the honour of taking my daughter for his mistress?” “‘ No—no—unfeeling as you are, you cannot be so cruel as to speak to him thus?” almost shrieked Celes- tine, as she now comprehended the apparent reason of the Italian’s visit, and trembled for the conse- quences that would ensue; “if you do not value my position, think of your own. I do not ask you to spare my feelings, for of any act of kindness or con- sideration you have shown yourself incapable, but I ask you to study your own interest—fiy from here at once, and I will purchase your absence with any means in my power.” “TJ shall make a better bargain if I stop till Lord Walsingham returns,” said Bazzini, with nonehalance ; ‘* he, as well as yourself, will then have to bribe me to secresy,” “Then my resolution is taken,” replied Celestine, drawing herself up to her full height, and from the very imminence of the peril that threatened her de- riving a firmness that was unusual in her disposition. “] will denounce you.as a man who has lived by the most unscrupulous extortion, whose crimes have driven him from one country to prey upon the inhabitants of another, and who, having successfully pursued a career of guilt and infamy that has given him a con- fidence in his unbounded wickedness, now seeks to eclipse his former misdeeds by a scheme of perjury and fraud that he dares to direct against the innocent ~ a3 well as against the wealthy.” “ Say on, my pretty accuser,” returned the Itanian, scornfully ; “the character is not altogether wrongly drawn; but remember,” he added, in a sterner and more impressive voice, “that the greater eriminal the father, the deeper and more lasting will be the daughter’s shame.” “You have no proofs to convince the world that you are what you represent yourself to be,” said the girl, undauntedly; “ I do not believe in the assurance you gave me that those proofs existed, and were ready to be brought forth. At all hazards, for what you have done you will have to answer; and as for your witnesses, on their production I am willing to abide the issue.” “ Ob, fortunately, I can establish the point at once, and by means that must tend wonderfully to the satisfaction of my Lord Walsingham,” said Bazzini, starting up and approaching the window. “ You shall see that I did not come unprepared with a witness.” Opening the casement, from which it seemed the fastenings had been withdrawn, the Italian gave a signal to some one without; and then, making his way through the shrubbery, where he had evidently been concealed, a heavy-locking, coarse- featured man, mufiied up in a shabby white great coat, shambled into the room, and boldly took up his position against the mantelpiece, “‘ There,” said Bazzini, indicating with a gesture his accomplice whom he had summoned as a witness, “there stands Tony Borelli, who holds the documents I mentioned, and who kaows the whole story.” “To be sure I do,” answered Borelli, drawing out from his pocket a greasy packet of papers; “ here are proofs of the birth of beatrice Bazzini, daughter of CORNICE OCC) S eer ee ETI LLL LLL (Elo)