Penny Blood Serial Fiction — page 213: what you’re looking at

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

f 196 THE COURT OF LONDON “He is a relative of Lord Marchmont, I believe? ”’ ob- served Florimel, after a few moments’ reflection. ‘“‘ That nobleman is a friend of mine, and I can procure an intro- duction from him to Mr. Clarendon. But what explanation am I to give to your sister? ”’ ‘ Precisely the same that I shall offer,’’ responded Pauline. “‘T shall tell her that you came hither in disguise, and with a treacherous intention toward myself; that I detected your perfidy, and remonstrated with you upon your ,conduct, appealing to your generosity and your honour to depart forthwith, and that you expressed so much sincere con- trition as to obtain my pardon. You then informed me that accident had made you acquainted with my sister’s indiscretion, and that I implored you to rescue her from the perils into which she had fallen. But you need not say that you passed two hours with me in this chamber,”’ added Pauline, with a dignified frankness of tone and manner, although a blush suffused her cheeks at the same time; ‘‘ because, inasmuch as Octavia herself has yielded to temp- tation, it were perhaps difficult for me to escape a suspicion on her part.” ‘And yet, if I inform her that her father has returned home, and that his arrival took place in the middle of the night, — or, rather, at an early hour in the morning,” said Florimel, ‘‘ she will wonder where I could have been con- cealed all that time.”’ “ True!’ exclaimed Pauline, now much embarrassed. “And yet it is absolutely necessary that she should be prepared beforehand to meet our father,” she added, in a musing tone. ‘“‘ Oh, it is repugnant to my feelings to deal in duplicity and deceit; nevertheless, I could not endure the idea of being suspected even by my own sister — ”’ ‘Permit me to suggest an expedient,’ interrupted Florimel, who saw that the whole and sole difficulty to be cleared away was the fact that he had been introduced into the maiden’s bedchamber. ‘‘I will tell your sister that my interview with you took place in one parlour, and that when your father arrived you conducted him into another.” ‘Gabriel, I thank you for this delicacy, this generosity on your part,” exclaimed Pauline, taking his hand and pressing it tenderly for an instant. ‘‘ We have now no more to say to each other, unless it be that on my side I must m ECORNIE OOOLKS (E(0)