Agnes, or, Beauty and Pleasure — page 216: what you’re looking at

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208 your own native land—to claim you as my hus- band—to assert a prior right to the fealty of your heart—to grasp the hand which is mine only, and which can never be bestowed upon another! Yes —these were my objects in voyaging across the Atlantic; and for those purposes am I here Think you, therefore, that I am now to be de- terred by a tale of love-sick sentimentalism P— think you that I will resign all my own rights to the rival whom your boyish vacillation has set up? No, no, Gustavus! Perhaps you flattered yourself that I am what the world calls magnani- mous—that I am generous—self-sacrificing—self- denying—capable of martyrizing myself for the sake of a fellow-creature—ready to immolate all my own feelings to save some other heart from a pang—content to sit down with the sense of mine own dishonour and unhappiness, that I may make the happiness of another? No, Gustavus !—I am not capable of such moral suicide! If what I should term utter cowardice and dastard self- abasement, be indeed virtues in your eyes,—then candidly do I confess that there are no such shining lights in the sanctuary of my soul !” The quadroon spoke with an inconceivable elo- quence—with a fluency which was in itself a power, apart from the actual sense of the lan- guage. Gustavus listened with a species of stupe- faction: the numbing influence of despair was upon his soul—upon his heart—upon his brain —and in his very blood. “ From all that I have been saying,” continued the quadroon, “you may judge of what my de- cision is to be; for you have told me that I am the arbitress of your destinies. Listen then! Your gold is in my possession, and so carefully disposed of that never could you find a clue to it. For myself, I covet it not: but I know that you value it as the means of placing your relatives in a happy position. Make me your wife—and I swear by the great God above us that when we stand upon the deck of the vessel which is to bear us back to Jamaica, I will sign an order for the treasure to be given up to whomsoever you may appoint to receive it. But if on the other hand you refuse to do me the only act of justice which you can possibly perform, from that moment my vengeance commences. Winifred shall know everything — and we shall see whether your amiable cousin will wed a perjurer and a seducer ! Your grandfather shall know everything!—as widely as possible will I publish your iniquity, although I shall be thereby publishing my own shame at the same time! As for your gold, it shall be buried deep in the bosom of the Thames, Now you know my decision, Gustayus. You can- not require a moment to make up your own mind: you have told me that I am the arbitress of your destinies—and I have spoken !” ““My God! my God! what can I say to Wini- fred?’ moaned the unhappy youth, literally wringing his hands in the agony of his mind, and giving involuntary utterance to those words in an audible tone. " Always Winifred, Winifred!” ejaculated the guadroon scornfully; “but never a syllable of remorse on account of the Emily whom you have dishonoured and whom you would have betrayed so foully !” “ Believe me, Emily,” said Gustavus, with the AGNES; OR, BEAUTY AND PLEASURE. —— meek tone and submissive manner of one whose spirit was utterly crushed, “it is not that I hesitate or refuse to fulfil my duty towards you; for I admit the justice of everything you ad- vanced when asserting your own prior rights and claims. But I think—I think”—and here his utterance was for a few instants choked by a deep convulsive sob—“it is that I think of poor Winifred, whose heart will be broken! For she loves me—she will be shocked at the black trea- chery of my conduct towards her—and God knows she has already suffered so much !” ‘And is her heart the only one that can be broken ?” demanded the quadroon in the impla- cable spirit of retort, and yet with the cold confi- dence of one who felt that she had an overwhelm- ing argument against every reason, plea, or pre- text which the youth could advance: “is Wini- fred the only one who can complain of black treachery? is she the only one who has endured so much? A truce to this weakness—this child’s play !—Where is Winifred now ? and is it likely that she may enter at any moment P” “She is at the prison, with our poor old rela- tive,” answered Gustavus; “ and I do not think it is probable she will return for the present Ab! that footstep! Hush, Emily! Yes—by heaven, tis she!” Time had slipped away so rapidly in the ex- citing interview between the quadroon aud Gus- tavus, that neither suspected nearly two hours had elapsed since first they met, and that it was now close upon three o’clock. Yet it was 80; and Winifred, wondering what could thus detain her cousin—uneasy on his account—a prey to many vague apprehensions—had come to seek him. Yes—it was Winifred whose light footsteps upon the stairs had just been heard by, those in- side the room! \ * My God ! my God!” moaned the youth in an- guish: “what can I doP what can I say ?’—and sinking upon a chair, he covered his face with his hands. “ Remember, you are mine!” were the words which breaking in upon the sounds of bis own sobbing and convulsive weeping, fell upon his ears: and then Emily, having thus emphatically spoken, stepped back a few paces. The next instant the dvor opened: Winifred made her appeararco——-and now for the first time the quadroon found herself in the presence of her rival. ~— CHAPTER XXXYV. WINIFRED AND EMILY. WHINIFRED beheld a scene which she had indeed little anticipated. Before her stood a tall, hand- some, elegantly-dressed young lady, of dusky com- plexion, who was an utter stranger to her; and at the table sat Gustavus, his face buried in his hands, and the sounds of his sobbings plainly audible, There was something in the look of the quadroon which instantaneously affrighted and overawed the meek, bashful, timid Winifred,—a look which sho could not however rightly comprehend, but which seemed to speak of mingled triumph and defi- ance. Gomichbooks.com ee re . 7 —_—-—- hr ’ * = ~ ~ ‘