Agnes, or, Beauty and Pleasure — page 228: what you’re looking at

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

a a Sy tsetse SS = é-- Sn ith le 220 of her own inward thoughts rather than of external circumstances. Almost immediately afterwards the service con- cluded—the congregation rose and began to dis- perse in different directions, Charles now lost sight of the weeping fair one: indeed he was not any longer seeking her with his eyes—for his feeling of interest had not carried him to that point at which he might really be deemed traitorous to his love for the far-distant Agnes Evelyn. There were several beautiful monuments, chapels, and paintings in the church; and our hero tarried to survey them. In the course of a few minutes the auburn- haired stranger was completely absent from his memory: his thoughts had partially relapsed into the channel which received its impulse from the incidents of the preceding evening; and his atten- tion was partially drawn to the objects of interest which he was contemplating. This was the first time he had been in an Italian church; and he found much to admire. At Jength he began to think that ag all the congregation had withdrawn, he stood a chance of being locked inside the build- ing; so that he began to bend his hasty steps towards the entrance. But now he heard the sounds of weeping and lamentation; and a female voice was giving vent to self-reproaches, as he could tell by the accents, though he could not catch the words which she uttered. Full of the most mournful harmony was that voice; and its tones, £0 replete with affliction and grief, went to the very heart of our generous young hero. He could not precisely tell from which direction came these notes of woe, as he had halted at the moment be tween two pillars which concealed the mourner, whoever she were, frum his view, and the echoes of the vast vaulted edifice were deceptive. With the intuitive dread of intruding upon a grief which, whatever its cause, must in such a place be deemed sacred, Charles De Vere, treading lightly—indeed with almost noiseless footsteps—was continuing his way towards the main entrance, when on passing round one of the pillars, he came suddenly in sight of a female form kneeling in front of an altar in one of the small chapels. And that form was the one which had already to some little extent at- tracted his attention during the performance of the service. He could not help stopping short and gazing upon the beauteous penitent as she there knelt. She did not perceive him: she was completely ab- sorbed in her mingled devotions and lamentations, Her lips merely murmured a few broken expres- sions; and still without catching their complete sense, Charles nevertheless gathered sufficient to make him aware that she was imploring heaven's mercy and forgiveness. Now she buried her face in her kerchief and wept passionately: then she folded her arms across her bosom and prayed in deep silence. Since Charles first noticed her in the midst of the congregation, she had placed an elegant lace cap upon her head: but the mantilla or veil-like scarf lay by her side on the stone steps of the altar. Every now and then he caught a another glimpse of her profile: but not once did he bebold her full face during the three or four minutes that he remained riveted to the spot thus gazing upon her. Then, suddenly recollecting that he was doing the very thing which be bad first of all studied to avoid— namely, intruding upon the AGNES; OR, BEAUTY AND PLEASURE. etree testes SSS ees nonnssssssssssusessennesi=~-seneussnseens sanctity of her penitential devotions—he glided behind the pillar and made his exit from the church, without having been noticed by the afflicted stranger. Yet why had he lingered even those few minutes? Because his soul was filled with an illimitable com- passion for one who though so young was evidently acquainted with much grief,—and this grief he feared was not altogether unassociated with faults and errors on her own part. She could not be more than nineteen or twenty, so far as he was enabled to judge without having obtained a view of her full face. She was well though not richly dressed ; but she was in the morning costume which every lady, whatsoever her rank, might wear; and there was a certain grace and elegance about her which would have made her look the lady, no matter what her apparel might have been. Had that voung heart become acquainted with guilt P— did that youthful bosom harbour a conscience suffering the pangs of remorse? There was some- thing terrible as well as mournfully interesting in the spectacle, and this is why Charles De Vere lingered :—for he would have lingered just the same even if Agnes had been leaning upon his arm at the time! He went forth from the church, his mind full of all that he had seen; and he continued his way through the streets without heeding the direction which he was taking, or indeed without having any settled purpose in view. Thus he wandered on for some time, until at length he stopped short and looked about him. The name of the street where he had thus halted was printed ona small board at the corner ; and he found it to be the one in which Nino Corso dwelt: for the hackney-coach driver had mentioned his address before Charles De Vere took leave of bim on the preceding evening. “Since I am in this quarter,” said our young hero to himself, ‘‘I will visit Nino Corso, and see how his good wife Benedetta gets on with the poor little infant whom circumstances have for the nonce thrown as it were under my guardianship. Besides, it almost seems as if heaven itself had directed my steps hither, while I was coming through the streets utterly careless of the way which I was taking.” We have already said that Nino Corso and his family inhabited a lodging on the bighest storey of the house where they dwelt, and which was let out to a variety of other tenants. There was a large gateway which always stood open in the day-time; and no door protected the entrance to the staircase, which was a little way under the arch of that gate- way. De Vere began to ascend the stairs; and he had nearly reached the highest landing—indeed Le was justin sight of it—when the door of the room which he sought was suddenly opened, and Benedetta peeped forth with a countenance which at once struck our hero as being full of anxiety —though all in a moment it cleared up when she recognised him. Yet, without giving utterance toa word, she instantaneously withdrew into the room. Charles then caught some hasty ejaculation escap- ing ber lips—but what it was he knew not; and then the next moment a very tall man, completely muffied in a large travelling-cloak, rushed forth from that room, made one stride across the land- ing and disappeared by an opposite door, which evidently communicated with another room. comicbooks e+ ee