Agnes, or, Beauty and Pleasure — page 341: what you’re looking at

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

| AGNES; OR, BEAUTY AND PLEASURE. 333 Suffice it however to say that Hector made love to; me that happening to Prima cli nnwe over an old news- Agnes—and she rejected him. From that circum- | paper a few days ago, he had sat down to read if stance arose the duel which was fought between from a motive of curiosity, when he saw this ad~ Hector and Charles De Vere. Well, my dear uncle, Agnes refused the overtures of Hector— she was not dazzled by his patrician rank and now will you tell me whether I ought not to feel | myself under an obligation to her who thus left Hector free to become my husband ?” “She did not know at the time that she was rendering you this service,” said Mr. Timperley. “No matter,” ejaculated Mrs. Hardress,—“ no matter whether it were done with any special pur- pose or not! been most important. And besides, there are cer- tain persons in the world whom you cannot help liking ; and I confess that I have conceived the greatest interest in Agnes Evelyn.” * But you will nevertheless respect the secret which I have communicated to you,” said Mr. Timperley. ‘ Recollect,” he continued, with a look of sombre significancy, “when upwards of three months back you demanded thirty thousand pounds at my hands, you told me that you were intensely selfish—a hypocrite and a dissembler, as well as an astute strategist—that all your sympa- thies were concentrated in your own egotism—that to achieve your own aggrandizement you would trample upon any other consideration—that you would scruple at no crime so long as you had tke certainty of shielding yourself from its conse- quences es Yes, truly—I recollect,” said the Honourable Mrs. Hardress, with the utmost coolness, as with her taper fingers she played with a tress of her long bair, while lounging negligently back in the easy chair in which she was seated; “I have no doubt I spoke to somewhat that effect. And now I presume that you would have me infer that if I am selfish, you also are selfish ?” “And as you would sacrifice everything to your own interests, Cicely,” rejoined the lawyer, “I may be permitted to entertain the same views and act after a similar fashion. Therefore let me hear not another syllable on behalf of Agnes Evelyn “Well, well, my dear uncle,” interjected Cicely, “‘we are not going to dispute upon the point. Ah! you have forgotten to tell me how you ob- tained that piece of documentary evidence which substantiates the claims of the deceased Morton Evelyn ; for deceased we must suppose him to be!” “The incident is singular enough,’ answered Mr. Timperley. “I had just entered my office this morning at about ten o'clock, when a very old man—quite an unpolished rustic—called to speak tome. His age is upwards of eighty ; but he has a fine hale look, and must possess a vigo- rous constitution. I asked him what his business was? So he took out an old greasy pocket-book, tied round with what appeared to be a shoe- string ; and thence he produced a scrap cut from an old newspaper bearing a date of nineteen years back. He handed it to me; and I saw it was an advertisement inquiring for the baptismal certifi- cate of a certain Andrew Evelyn, and offering a reward of twenty guineas for the production of the same. I asked the old man what his object was in showing me this advertisement, He told At all events to me the result has | any use. vertisement. Now, being the parish-clerk of the village of Broomdale in Warwickshire, he took is into his head to examine the registry: it was first the whim of an idle moment, without the hope ‘that sucb a search would result in success. Con- ceive therefore the old man’s astonishment when he discovered the very certificate specified in the advertisement! He took a copy of it; and having some little business to transact in London, he thought he might just as well call at this office to see if by any chance the certificate were now of Having told me this tale, the old man produced the certificate: I glanced at it, and as once saw that it filled up the gap which Waldron had not been able to surmount except by means of fraud and forgery. It kowever immediately struck 'me that the affair must now be dealt cautiously 3 with. I therefore assured the old clerk that the certificate had for years ceased to be of the slightes use—that I would however keep it since he had been kind enough to bring it—and that I would give him five guineas as a reward for his good in- tentions. He went away delighted; and I re- tained possession of the certificate.” “The incident is a singular one,’ observed Cicely. ‘ But now, my dear uncle, as we have discoursed upon this topic long enough, I will beg to turn your attention to another, for I have yet to explain the particular motive which led me to call upon you this afternoon.” “And what is that motive, my dear niece ?” asked Mr. Timperley. ““T just now received a visit from the very young lady of whom we have been speaking—I mean Agnes Evelyn. ‘You know that she took a great interest in the affairs of Winifred Barring- ton - “ Well, well,’ said Mr. Timperley, now fidgeting nervously with the piles of documents which lay before him upon the desk; “I hope, my dear Cicely, I am not going to hear any long story upon this topic P” “Tt will be a short one if you do not interrupt e,” replied the Hon. Mrs, Hardress. ‘“ All ar- rangements are made for the liberation of old Mr. 33 Barrington “Ah! I knew what they were working at!” ejaculated the lawyer, with a malignant gleaming in his eyes. “ They have applied to me for certain document—but I will not give it up. No, no!—so long as I hold possession of that deed “ But you will not hold possession of it any longer, my dear uncle,” said Cicely, with an af- fable smile and yet with a peremptory tone. “It will only get you into trouble, I can assure you; and you who are go afraid of suffering in reputa- tion on account of the Morton Evelyn affair of bygone years, are now with a strange fatuity rushing headlong into the vortex of disgrace in ” the affair of these Barringtons “ Not so, my dear Cicely: I know what I am about,” interrupted the Jawyer. ‘ You cannot penetrate into these mysteries 2 “T know this much, uncle,” she exclaimed,— “that the deed to which I refer is utterly useless to yourself in a legitimate point of view—you cao TEU a) CoOMmiclooolks Om