The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 115: what you’re looking at

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

94 THE COURT OF LONDON involving a certain alteration of its details, according to circumstances. Thus, for instance, if Editha required an excuse to be absent from home for only a few hours during the evening, she would pretend to have received an invita- tion from Lady Lechmere to a party; but Gertrude, muffled in Editha’s ermine cloak, and perhaps wearing her veil, would proceed in the carriage to Lady Lechmere’s, where, instead of any evening party at all, the servants would receive positive orders from their mistress to admit only the Countess of Curzon. Thus Gertrude, disguised as the countess, would be shown up into Lady Lechmere’s boudoir, and there remain for two or three hours, as the case might be, until the carriage came to fetch her home again. Thus, all the while, the coachman and lackey attached to Lady Curzon’s carriage would naturally suppose that it was their mistress whom they had driven to Lady Lechmere’s at eight or nine and fetched home again at twelve or one; while, on the other hand, Lady Lechmere’s domestics were equally remote from suspecting that it was any other than the - Countess of Curzon who thus came and passed several hours ¢éte-d-téte with their mistress. The reader will now understand the meaning of that note, bearing the signature of Lady Lechmere, which the Earl of Curzon had found in his wife’s writing-desk. But wherefore were all those strangely ramified precautions necessary. Because Editha was too prudent to have incurred the risk of allowing either Malpas or Emmerson to pass the night with her in her own boudoir at home; and there- fore it was necessary to devise measures to enable her to meet her paramour for the time being at Mrs. Gale’s house of accommodation in Soho Square. But of course she could not drive thither openly and fearlessly in her carriage, and when going out of an evening, she could not possibly devise any excuse to dispense with the carriage. She could not say she was going anywhere on foot or that she preferred a hackney-coach. She must therefore seem to use the car- riage, even if she did not in reality; hence the astute arrange- ment of allowing Gertrude to take her place and perform her part, while she herself, modestly disguised in Gertrude’s unobtrusive apparel, enjoyed unlimited freedom combined with a rare security. Having given these few explanations, we now resume the Gomicbdooks (E(@)