The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 395: what you’re looking at

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

364 THE COURT OF LONDON ‘Well, my dear, I meant to say that so soon as every incident which can possibly menace us shall have passed, my apprehensions will cease altogether,’’ answered the noble- man. “TI do not doubt it,” said Fernanda, with a laconic con- temptuousness. “In plain terms, you mean me to under- stand that when there is no danger you will fear none. This is the very acme of moral courage, Walter, and I congratulate you upon your bravery.” “Wherefore indulge in this cruel irony, Fernanda? ”’ exclaimed Lord Holderness. ‘‘ I deserve better treatment. at your hands, for I plunged my soul in crime to save you from danger — ”’ ‘“‘ And to forward your own interests likewise,’’ added the lady, in a sharp tone of rebuke. } ‘What object could I have had in aiding you to take the life of the old woman in Fore Street? ’’ demanded the noble- man, with a scintillation of that spirit which Fernanda’s domineering treatment had well-nigh crushed altogether. ‘Had you no interest in saving your wife from the chances of a fearful exposure and an ignominious death? ”’ exclaimed Fernanda, her eyes lighting up and her cheeks flushing with indignation. ‘Yes, to be sure,’’ stammered Lord Holderness, as he gazed with mingled ardour and timidity upon that woman whose beauty was so dazzling and whose soul was so black, and who indeed might so well be likened to the most venom- ous of snakes with the loveliest of skins. “ And in putting Dudley to death,” she continued, in a lower and softer tone, as she perceived that her looks had both overawed and fascinated her husband, “ did we not serve a double purpose, by removing a man who was ac- quainted with secrets the revelation of which would have proved my destruction, and also by the accomplishment of a crime which circumstantial evidence fixed upon Arthur Eaton? ” “True, true!” ejaculated the nobleman. ‘ But what if all that evidence should turn against ourselves to-morrow, when young Eaton stands in the dock at the Old Bailey?” ‘“T have already shown you the impossibility, or at least the improbability, of such a catastrophe,” said Fernanda. ‘‘ This newspaper,” she continued, pointing toward a particu- GoOmichdooks (E(0)