Agnes, or, Beauty and Pleasure — page 279: what you’re looking at

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an ego over whatsoever despatches might demand | his immediate attention. -eandidly, sir, that for the last day or two I have Now, I will tell you been playing a game of dissimulation with the Minister. I have pretended to be touched by his attentions—to be moved by his endeavours to ren- der my position a happy one in short, I have suffered him to believe that it is quite possible I ean leyve him. Keen, shrewd, suspicious, and mistrustful as on all other points he may be, yet in this one senso he is like every other man— eredulous in respect to the bland assuranees which are breathed from woman’s lips. inform you that this game of dissimulation I had entered upon in the hope of abridging the term of AGNES; OR, BEAUTY AND PLEASURE. 271 he was informed that she had at ovee suceutobed and that she was the mistress of the Minister, all his original suspicions flamed up anew in bis mind, It was under the influence of those sus- _Picions that he had so closely questioned her upon all the various points of ber conduct; and the an- swers were readily given to his queries. Indeed, there was altogether a sincerity about Ciprina which banished those suspicions; and moreover, as Silvio reflected upon everything that he heard, /he said to himself, “The very candour of her I need hardly | wy captivity, and of inducing him to provide me | with an abode outside the walls and where I might be my own mistress. But I am extending my parrative to a much greater length than [ had at first anticipated d “You were about to tell me, beautiful Ciprina,” said Silvio, “how it happened that you suddenly passed into the cabinet ?” avowal that she has become the Minister's mis- tress, is a proof that she is nut dealing falsely with me! If she were merely acting as his spy, she would have pursued a different course—she would affect rage, hatred, and bitterness towards him, in order the more completely to throw me off my guard: whereas her language has been moderate, and she has assumed no unnecessary “ Ah! true,’ exclaimed the lady. “ Well then, as | /any service tohim? Did he wish to escape? or 1 have already said, the Minister had informed me that he should be compelled to leave his state- saloons for an hour and seek that cabinet. I[ un- derstood bis meaning: it was an intimation that he would take it kind on wy part, and regard it asa proof of affection, if I would bestow a few minutes of my society upon him there, as a relax- | ation for him amidst the cares of business as well | as an agreeable change from the formal ceremonies of his brilliant saloons. True, therefore, to my plan of dissimulation, i repaired to the cabinet: I was entering it when I beheld a stranger there. That stranger was yourself. [instantaneously with- drew: but I will confess that on beholding one so | young I was smitten with a feeling of interest—I wondered what offence could be laid to your charge —and I shudderec as I reflected that the cabinet | where I beheld you, was too often the avenue toa fortress and a dungeon!” “ But now did you know that I was a prisoner ?” inguired Silvio. “T suspected it from the attitude in which you { were standing, and from the look of mingled gloom and despair which I surprised upon your coun- tenance at the moment you glanced up towards | me. On returning to my apartment, I bade Fidelia make inquiries: and she did so. could however ascertain nothing beyond the fact that you were a prisoner, and that you had been consigned to a particular room: nothing more could she learn—no, not even, your name! I de- liberated with myself whether I should yield to the feeling of interest which had taken possession of me :——and—you know the result. I have now given you my complete confidence—I have disguised nothing from you not even my shame !” The reader may have seen with what feeiings Silvio listened to this narrative. He was at first indignant at the idea that the Chief of Police should avail himself of his power and authority to make certain overtures to the lady, and by ter- rorism seek to enforce them: but he had expected to hear from her lips that she had rejected them She | vehemence nor passion.” The result, therefore, of Ciprina’s revealings was to win the entire confidence of the Viscount of Camerino. But now he asked himself whether his acquaintance with this lady would prove of would he rather remain for a few hours longer a captive within those walls, and emancipate him- self on the morrow by the fulfilment of his bar- gain with the Chief of the Police? He hastily reviewed the circumstances of his position and the various influences wich he deemed it requisite to envisage, to calculate, and to study. “Tf I remain,” he said to himself, “I must fulfil my compact and betray my father to the scaffold. Butin so doing I shall ensure for my- self the heritage of his estates. On the other hand, if through Ciprina’s assistance I escape, I shali avoid the fearful crime of parricide— though I may be leaving my sire in a position to discover the fearful secret of my illicit amour with Ginevra, the result of which discovery would be my inevitable disinheritance. But Ah! if I were to escape, might I not warn my father of the fact that his presence in Naples is known? wouid he not at once flee?—and ¢hen, if Ginevra, yielding to De Vere’s advice, would immure herself for the remainder of her existence in a convent, the dread secret of my guilt might escape detection on the part of my sire! At all events it were better for | me to avoid the alternative of the hideous crime which was ere now contemplated, and leave all the rest to chance!” Such was the conclusion to which Silvio came after afew moments of reflection. Ciprina saw that he was meditating: but very far was she from comprehending the painful nature and ex- citing subject of his thoughts:—sbe fancied that he was revolving in his mind the expianations that he had received from her lips and the amount of confidence which he might repose in her. “ Beautiful lady,” he at length said, “I now owe you those avowals which your own, so gene- rously and so freely made, reciprocaliy demand. I am the Viscount Silvio of Camerino: i was en- gaged in the great couspiracy which exploded at the commencement of the present year: I fled at the time, and my name was inserted in the list of political proscriptions. Recently I came to Naples with scorn, and that she was punished by captivity | in disguise, for certain purposes:—to night IL was until she should yield an assent. When, however | discovered and arrested. Show me the means of CoOnmniclooolkxs com