The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 276: what you’re looking at

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

THE PREFECT AND HIS GUESTS 249 ‘ But the affair of this Julia Owen and Jocelyn Loftus? ”’ exclaimed Jules Martignac, who did not want a lecture upon morals; ‘‘ is it so very racy? ”’ ‘You shall judge for yourself,” replied the prefect. “‘ It appears that this same young gentleman, whom we shall still continue to call by his pseudonym of Jocelyn Loftus, professes a stoical degree of virtue which has naturally given great offence in certain quarters, where licentiousness is thereby put to the blush. Now, when the Marquis of Leveson came over to Paris, it was privately whispered in his ear by Mrs. Ranger that all the three sisters had become desperately enamoured of Jocelyn, but that Agatha and Emma had vainly attempted to thaw his ice-cold heart. The marquis, having a particular reason for breaking down all the ridiculous scruples which have taken such a hold upon Loftus, became much interested in what Mrs. Ranger told him; and summoning the three sisters, he succeeded in wheedling out of the two eldest a confession of all the wiles, manceuvres, and artifices which they had adopted to ensnare the object of their passion, while from young Jullia’s lips he elicited the avowal that she had not found an opportunity of trying the effect of her charms, but should rejoice at being enabled to enter on such a love-campaign. The mind of the marquis was at once made up, his plans were settled, and he proceeded to put them into execution. Agatha and Kmma were sent forward with Mrs. Ranger, as I have already told you, to join the Princess Caroline in Italy; and the marquis then came to me with a request that Julia Owen might at once be placed in the next room to Jocelyn Loftus. As a matter of course, his lordship explained his reasons for a proceeding which at the first glance struck even me as extraordinary. He represented how necessary it was to undermine that stoical virtue which led Jocelyn Loftus into such Quixotic extremes, and which would inevitably lead him, when he regained his liberty, not merely to thwart, but also blazon forth to the whole world the long-concerted plots and deeply ramified intrigues that are now in progress relative to the Princess of Wales. It was quite clear, as the marquis observed, that Jocelyn knew too much on that point; and the only way to render him powerless was to detain him in prison, or else drag him down from the pedestal of his exalted virtue. Now, to keep COUN @) LOOKS (CO)